The University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu State, has given the public three weeks to identify and claim 126 abandoned corpses in its morgue, warning that it would approach a court for approval to conduct a mass burial if the bodies remain unclaimed.
In a public notice issued by the hospital’s Department of Morbid Anatomy, Morgue Unit, the management disclosed that some of the bodies had been in the facility since 2008, with no relatives coming forward to identify or retrieve them.
The notice directed relatives of the deceased and anyone with relevant information about the listed bodies to come forward within three weeks of the announcement to prevent their burial in a mass grave.
“The body of the deceased should be claimed from the day of publication of this announcement to 3 weeks after,” the notice stated.
A catalogue attached to the announcement contains 126 entries, with records dating as far back as December 11, 2008. The list includes the names of some deceased persons, where available, alongside descriptions of the circumstances under which their bodies were brought to the hospital.
However, a significant number of the entries are classified as “Unknown” or “Unknown Corpse,” indicating that the identities of the deceased have not been established in the hospital’s records.
The list includes adults and infants, as well as people reportedly brought to the facility following fatal road traffic accidents. Some of the bodies were reportedly deposited by security agencies, while others were recovered from different locations.
The records span more than 15 years, covering the period from 2008 to 2023.
According to ChroniclesReporters, about 80 per cent of the bodies, many of them young people, were reportedly brought to the hospital between 2020 and 2023, during a period of heightened agitation for the actualisation of Biafra.
Hospital sources cited by the publication alleged that some of the deceased died in the custody of security agencies and were subsequently labelled members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The sources further alleged that security agencies, including the military, police and Department of State Services (DSS), were linked to the deaths of some young people whose bodies were deposited at the hospital during the period.
However, the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the individuals have not been independently verified, and the available information does not establish the identities of all the deceased or the causes of their deaths.
The development has drawn attention to the challenges facing public hospitals in Nigeria in managing unidentified and unclaimed bodies, particularly when relatives cannot be located or families are unable to meet the costs associated with retrieving and preserving the remains of their loved ones.
The prolonged storage of corpses places additional financial and logistical pressure on public health institutions already struggling to meet healthcare demands. Teaching hospitals are primarily established to provide medical treatment, conduct research and train healthcare professionals, rather than preserve unclaimed bodies indefinitely.
The UNTH ultimatum also comes amid a similar development at Annunciation Specialist Hospital in Emene, Enugu State, which reportedly threatened a mass burial for 58 unclaimed corpses, some dating back to 2008.
The hospital had expressed concern over the millions of naira spent on preserving the bodies over the years.
The latest notice from UNTH has therefore placed renewed urgency on efforts to identify the deceased and locate their relatives before the three-week deadline expires.
The hospital urged anyone who recognises a name or description on the published list, or possesses information that could help establish the identity of any of the deceased, to contact the appropriate authorities at the facility.
The management warned that failure to claim the bodies within the stipulated period would compel it to seek court approval for a mass burial, potentially ending years of storage for the unidentified and unclaimed dead.