A
possible breakdown of law and order at the Benin City Central Hospital,
was averted by the police on Friday, following the mysterious
disappearance of two corpses from the hospital morgue.
It was
gathered that relatives of the deceased persons had gone to the hospital
on Thursday to collect the corpses for burial when they discovered that
they were missing from the hospital mortuary.
The discovery caused stair and confusion at the hospital, as no one could offer reasonable explanation to the deceased families.
Michael
Idemudia, the eldest son of one of the deceased, who spoke on behalf of
the family, said his father died while he was being taken to the
hospital for treatment.
He explained that his 54-years-old dead
father, a retired police officer, was deposited in the mortuary on the
18 November, 2015.
He said he went to collect his clothes on the
21st of same month but could not understand why the corpse will be
missing on the day of the burial when arrangements have been made.
Idemudia alleged the hospital management was doing nothing about it, rather they locked everywhere.
“My
name is Idemudia Michael. I live at 23, Omomo Street off St. Saviour
Road. He is my father, and we are from Ovia North-East local government
area.
“We brought the corpse on the 18th of November, 2015 to this
hospital. We were rushing him to the hospital when he gave up and we
brought him here.
When he died, we were looking for money to
burial him. We came to check on the 21st when they called me to come
pick up his clothes.
“About two days ago, we came to clear the bills and we had no chance to check him again because we were in a hurry.
That
is where we made the mistake of not checking him. When we came on
Thursday to carry the corpse, it was nowhere to be found and the burial
is Thursday and Friday.
“The hospital management said we should take it easy that they are going to investigate the matter,” Idemudia said.
The
family of late Lawrence Agbonlahor, whose body is also allegedly
missing from the hospital mortuary, also narrated the suffering they
have been made to go through as a result of the incident.
The
younger brother of the deceased, Friday Agbonlahor, said he saw
brother’s corpse three days ago and could not understand how it suddenly
disappeared.
“In this country, everything you suffer even the
dead, to collect the corpse. I came to see it twice in not less than
three weeks to ensure that they take care of it.
Only for us to come today (Friday) to remove the corpse and it is nowhere to be found.
“On
Monday we saw the corpse and even on Thursday when we made preparation
for the burial, they said we should not see it since the burial is on
Friday.
“This morning somebody came to tell us that there is a
problem in the mortuary because of missing corpse because they locked up
everywhere.
I never envisaged that I will not be taking my corpse, only to get here they are telling me a different story,” Agbolanhor said.
The
hospital management could not be reached as they were said to be in an
emergency meeting likely to resolve the mystery surrounding the missing
corpses.
Following the incident, family members who deposited
corpses of their dead ones at the hospital were alleged to be
transferring them to other mortuary.
Source: PMNews
