The Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, has announced its intention to conduct mass burial for unclaimed corpses in its mortuary.
The decision is contained in a press statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the health institution, Dr Jecinta Achonu, and made available to newsmen in Owerri on Wednesday.
The statement urged the general public, especially those who have missing relatives to visit the mortuary for possible identification and collection of such corpses within 14 days from the announcement.
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Achonu later told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that she could not ascertain the exact number of corpses for the mass burial.
She noted that some of the corpses had been in the mortuary for three years to four years.
“We do conduct mass burial every year to reduce the number of corpses in the morgue and this is not peculiar to this hospital alone.
“Following this announcement, I have been receiving many unusual calls from people on Wednesday compared to other years.
“We hope that many corpses would be released to family members after completing normal court processes,’’ she said.
Achonu added that the health institution would secure court orders before proceeding with the mass burial. (NAN)