Edo – Edo State Government is to conduct a mass burial for the 23 corpses found at an alleged illegal mortuary located off Ekehuan Road in Benin City, as well as those at the former mortuary at the defunct Asuen Hospital, First East Circular Road, Benin City.
The state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Obehi Akoria, said in a statement in Benin on Thursday.
She called on families and relations that have corpses at these locations to provide the required evidence and claim such corpse(s) for burial.
“The general public is hereby notified that the corpses which were found at an illegal mortuary located off Ekehuan Road in Benin City have been scheduled for mass burial. Similarly, corpses at the former mortuary at the defunct Asuen Hospital, First East Circular Road, Benin City, have been scheduled for mass burial,” the commissioner said.
“Members of the public who may have corpses at these locations are hereby invited to provide the required evidence to claim such corpse(s) for burial.”
“The Government of Edo State is hereby giving a moratorium of 21 days beginning from the date of publication of this announcement for the corpses to be duly claimed for burial.
“For further clarification, please contact the Director of Regulation and Monitoring at the Ministry of Health – 3rd Floor, Block D, New Secretariat Building, Sapele Road, Benin City,” Akoria said in the statement.
The state government earlier directed all private hospital owners who run mortuaries, owners and operators of standalone mortuaries, and owners and operators of embalmment homes in the state to present their registration documents to the Edo State Ministry of Health before the Friday, September 30, 2022 else or wind up operations .
Akoria added, “Owners/operators of mortuaries or embalmment homes who are not duly registered with the Ministry of Health are advised to obtain the requirements for registration from the Ministry of Health before the closing of business on Friday, September 9, 2022.
“Owners/operators of mortuaries and embalmment homes are further informed that every corpse must be duly certified as dead by a competent medical officer before being received into a private mortuary. Any corpse that has not been so certified should be taken to a government-owned mortuary,” the statement further said.
It will be recalled that operatives from the state police command had on August 17 uncovered a suspected shrine by the on Asoro slope, off Ekenhuan road, in Uzebu quarters, Benin.
Spokesman of the state police command, Jennifer Iwegbu, disclosed in a statement, that further investigations, revealed that the mortuary building was not licensed by appropriate authorities. ( vitalnewsngr.com )
