KATH to perform mass burial …for 20-year-old unclaimed corpses

From Issah Alhassan, Kumasi 
About 50 unclaimed corpses, which have been lying in the morgue at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), would soon be buried, a source close to the hospital has hinted The Chronicle.

A number of  correspondence have been exchanged between the management of the facility and the office of the Attorney General (A-G) and Ministry of Justice to secure the necessary authorisation for the mass burial of the unclaimed corpses, some of which have been in the morgue for almost 20 years.

The source indicated that the hospital was seeking advice from the A-G as to how to deal with the legal encumbrances surrounding such acts, to enable the hospital decongest the mortuary which is filled with unclaimed corpses.

The corpses, according to information, are made up of those that have not been claimed as a result of litigation between deceased family members, and those brought to the hospital by the police.

The situation is said to have congested the facility, creating inconveniences to the management of the hospital.

The Attorney General, according to information, has advised authorities of the hospital to make an official announcement in a national daily to publicly inform families of unclaimed corpses as a legal necessity, after which the management could go ahead and perform the mass burial.

This, however, comes at a cost, as the hospital would have to bear the advertising cost in the national daily.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of KATH, Prof. Ohene Adjei, has hinted that the hospital was still discussing the matter with the Attorney General to see how best to go about the issue.