Sodiq Ojuroungbe
The Management of Federal Medical Centre, Keffi in Nassarawa State, has issued a two-week ultimatum to the relatives of unclaimed bodies in its morgue to collect them or they would be given mass burial.
According to a statement by the Head of Public Relations/Protocol at FMC Keffi, Miss Esther Bature, some of the corpses have exceeded the six-month legal limit for storage and are now posing a potential health hazard to the hospital and its surroundings.
Bature urged the public, especially those with missing relatives, to visit the morgue for identification and collection of the bodies within the stipulated time frame.
She noted that the deadline, effective from November 5, 2024, will see the bodies evacuated and disposed of if no claimants come forward.
“They now constitute a potential health hazard to the hospital and its immediate environs.
“We, therefore, call on members of the public who have missing relatives to visit the hospital’s morgue for possible identification and collection of such corpses,” she said.
PUNCH Healthwise reports that this is not the first time the management of FMC Keffi has set a deadline for the relatives of unclaimed bodies.
In September 2023, the hospital issued a similar two-week ultimatum for the relatives of nine unclaimed corpses, warning that they would be given a mass burial if not collected.
According to Bature, the decision to issue the deadline was due to the fact that some of the bodies had been in the morgue since 2021 and 2022, exceeding the six-month storage limit allowed by law.
Bature emphasised that the hospital’s management had no choice but to enforce the deadline, citing the potential health risks posed by the prolonged storage of unclaimed corpses.
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