Enugu Teaching Hospital Threatens To Dispose Of Over 300 Unclaimed Corpses

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The authorities of the  Enugu State University of Science and Technology Teaching Hospital ESUTTH, have issued a three-week  ultimatum to all those who have dead relatives in the facility’s mortuary to come forward and claim them .

A statement from the Chief Medical Director, Prof Bethrand Ugwu, on Thursday, February 13,2025, warned that the hospital management will, effective, end of March, dispose of  corpses that have stayed between six months and above in the morgue .

The hospital informed that there are over 300 unclaimed corpses in the mortuary, and warned that it would not hesitate to dispose of them if the owners fail to claim them before the dateline.

According to the ESUTTH authorities, some of the copses have stayed between one and two years in its mortuary, thereby constituting a problem .

The Management warned that failure by concerned persons to come forward and claim their dead relatives within the specified time ,will leave the authorities with no other option than to dispose of them in mass .

“This announcement serves as a notice to anyone whose relative or friend’s corpse has stayed in the hospital for a period of six months or more to proceed and claim it .

“Failure to do so within three weeks, after this announcement, means that all unclaimed bodies shall be disposed of permanently ,and the hospital will not be held accountable” Prof Ugwu stated .

The Source reports that many public health facilities in the South  East region have, for some time, been battling with high incidents of abandonment of corpses by individuals.

The problem was majorly at the root of the  controversial tax imposed on corpses in mortuaries by the Enugu State Government in 2024 .

In the wake of the heated debate sparked by the introduction of the corpse tax regime ,the Enugu State Government had insisted that it was primarily targeted at those with the penchant for leaving dead bodies in mortuaries for too long .

Instructively, the Management of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital in Anambra state ,had last year adopted same measure like its ESUTTH, to clear its facilities of abandoned corpses .