Hospital sets deadline for mass burial of unidentified corpses

The University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Cross River State, has scheduled a mass burial of unclaimed corpses for 21 October, giving families and individuals who deposited the bodies a final opportunity to identify and retrieve them.

The hospital said the exercise became necessary because some corpses had remained in its mortuary for several years, occupying space needed for its operations.

David Ushie, chairman of the Special Task Force on the Evacuation of Abandoned and Unclaimed Corpses, said the hospital issued a public notice enabling relatives and other interested persons to identify and claim the remains before the deadline.

“The hospital has given relatives and individuals who deposited the corpses three weeks to identify and claim them. Any bodies remaining unclaimed after the 21 October, 2026, deadline will be evacuated for mass burial without further notice,” Mr Ushie said.

Mr Ushie, who heads UCTH’s department of pathology, said the notice was intended to ensure families had adequate time to complete the identification and retrieval process.

The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Ikpeme Ikpeme, announced the deadline during the task force’s inauguration in Calabar on 29 September.

Represented by Stephen Ogbudu, deputy chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee in charge of Clinical Services, Mr Ikpeme said the directive covered corpses that had remained in the mortuary beyond the statutory 90-day period from the date they were deposited.

He disclosed that some bodies had been in the facility for more than a decade.

Mr Ikpeme attributed the accumulation of unclaimed corpses partly to the high cost of burial ceremonies and cultural practices that place considerable financial demands on bereaved families.

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The hospital said the planned evacuation was intended to decongest the mortuary, improve sanitation and provide a more conducive environment for clinical services.

It called on members of the public who suspect that the remains of missing or deceased relatives may be at the hospital to contact the relevant authorities and complete the necessary procedures before 21 October.

The task force comprises officials from the hospital’s Legal, Surveillance, SERVICOM, Corporate Affairs and Sanitation departments. Ewa Alexander of the Legal Department serves as its secretary.