The Oyo State Government has given families and next of kin seven days to claim unclaimed corpses in public hospital mortuaries across the state or risk having them buried in a mass burial.
The Commissioner for Health, Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, announced the directive in a statement issued on Monday in Ibadan.
According to her, public mortuaries across the state have become severely congested due to the growing number of unclaimed bodies brought in by the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the Nigerian Correctional Service and other agencies.
She said the situation has stretched the storage capacity of the affected mortuaries, making it necessary for the government to take urgent action.
Ajetunmobi urged members of the public, particularly those with missing relatives, to visit public hospital mortuaries to identify and claim the bodies.
She disclosed that the state government has concluded plans to conduct a mass burial of all unclaimed corpses seven days after the publication of the notice.
The commissioner said the deadline is intended to give families and other concerned persons adequate time to identify and recover the bodies before the burial exercise.
She reaffirmed the government’s commitment to maintaining public health standards and ensuring the efficient management of healthcare facilities across the state.
