Kwara Hospital Threatens Mass Burial For Unclaimed Bodies

The management of the Kwara State University Teaching Hospital in Ilorin has asked anyone who has a body in the hospital to remove it within two weeks.

In a statement by the Head, Corporate Affairs Unit, Yakub Aliagan, made available on Sunday to the press, the hospital said the mortuary is full as a result of unclaimed corpses.

“The Management of Kwara State University Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, wishes to announce to the general public that its mortuary is filled beyond capacity with no available space due to unclaimed bodies.”

It urged people who have corpses in the hospital to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones within two weeks, Sunday, December 8, and Saturday, December 21, 2024.

It said that the corpses would be considered for mass burial after the time limit given by the management for the removal.

“The management, therefore, implores the general public to come and retrieve the bodies of their relatives and loved ones within the next two weeks from the time of this announcement, after which the management will consider decongestion through mass burial,” the statement said.

Also in a move to discourage excessive storage of deceased bodies in mortuaries, the Enugu State Government in October 2024 announced the payment of N40 by owners of a corpse once it was not buried within 24 hours. The amount, however, will continue to count daily.

The Mortuary Tax circular addressed to all mortuary attendants in the state read, “Kindly ensure that owners of corpses make the payments before collection of the corpses for burial and then remit same to the ESIRS in any commercial bank under the mortuary tax in Enugu State IGR Account.”