UBTH plans mass burial for 270 unclaimed corpses

The Coordinator, Mortuary Services, University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Dr Ehizogie Egbeobauwaye Adeyemi, has disclosed that the hospital will conduct a mass burial for 270 corpses if their relations fail to claim the bodies within six weeks.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Adeyemi gave the breakdown of the corpses as 201 infants and 69 adults.

According to her, UBTH’s management had in a statement gave six weeks ultimatum to the owners of the corpses to claim them.

“The 201 infants have been in the hospital since 2023 while the 69 adults (were brought in) from April 2021 to December 2022,” she added.

Adeyemi said the hospital tried to contact the addresses and phone numbers provided by the owners of the corpses to the hospital but were no longer reachable or valid.

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“At the expiration of the six weeks ultimatum, the hospital would conduct a mass burial for the unclaimed corpses if the owners failed to claim them,” she said.

According to the statement earlier issued by the UBTH, any unclaimed corpses at the expiration of the six weeks period shall be disposed of through mass burial or any other manner considered appropriate.

“This is to inform the general public that the Management of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), have concluded plans to dispose of all unclaimed corpses that have been in the hospital mortuary for a very long time.

“For the avoidance of doubt, such corpses include those of infants that have been in the mortuary since January, 2023 and corpses of adults that have been in the mortuary from April 2021 to December 2022.

“Therefore, owners of such corpses are hereby given six weeks notice from the date of this publication to claim their corpse (s),” it said.