UPTH Plans Mass Burial For 700 Abandoned Corpses

Management of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) said it has concluded arrangements to carry out a mass burial for over 700 corpses abandoned in the institution’s morgue.
The Chief Medical Director of UPTH, Prof. Henry Ugboma disclosed this while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.
Ugboma said the mass burial would commence after the rains, as the hospital could no longer keep the unclaimed corpses.
He explained that after various information were put out to the public, some individuals came forward to claim their corpses, but that for a long time now over 700 corpses had remained unclaimed in the UPTH mortuary.
PTH said it would now conduct a mass burial for hundreds of abandoned corpses in the institutions mortuary, pointing out that the management has already notified the relevant agencies on the development.
Ugboma said, “First and foremost we have concluded with all the announcements, written to all the relevant authorities concerning that. A lot of persons have come to collect their corpses. Because of the rains, we have not been able to conduct a mass burial.
“But when the rains stops and the ground is dry up a bit that is when we will do that, because they are many. As we said over 700 corpses. So when the rain ends that is when we will do that.
The CMD stated that the hospital was doing its best to see that staff welfare was given priority, saying that when welfare of staff are relegated, it also affects their productivity.