The management of Kwara State University Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria, has called on individuals who have deposited bodies at the hospital morgue to remove them within two weeks.
In a statement released on Sunday by the Head of the Corporate Affairs Unit, Yakub Aliagan, the hospital announced that its morgue is currently at full capacity due to unclaimed bodies.
“The Management of Kwara State University Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, wishes to inform the public that its mortuary is filled beyond capacity with no available space due to unclaimed bodies,” the statement read.
The hospital urged people to collect the remains of their loved ones within two weeks, from Sunday, December 8, 2024 to Saturday, December 21, 2024. After this deadline, the bodies will be considered for mass burial.
“The management, therefore, implores the public to retrieve the bodies of their relatives and loved ones within the next two weeks. After this time, the management will consider decongestion through mass burial,” the statement concluded.
In a related move to discourage the prolonged storage of deceased bodies, the Enugu State Government announced in October 2024 that a fee of N40 would be charged to the owners of unburied corpses after 24 hours. The fee will accrue daily until the body is collected.
A circular addressed to mortuary attendants in Enugu stated, “Kindly ensure that owners of corpses make the payments before collection for burial, and remit the payments to the ESIRS in any commercial bank under the mortuary tax in Enugu State IGR Account.
” Meanwhile, on September 18, 2024, the Osun State Police Command reported the arrest of seven suspects involved in selling human body parts and water used to bathe corpses. The arrests were made after a tip-off about a mortuary attendant, Johnson Daniel, who was allegedly selling body parts to native doctors.