There is going to be a mass burial for the corpses found at an alleged illegal mortuary located off Ekehuan Road in Benin City, and those at the former mortuary at the defunct Asuen Hospital, First East Circular Road, Benin City, the Edo State government has announced.
Recall that the first report on the mummified bodies said those arrested by the Police in the mortuary were ritualists, but further investigations showed they were workers in an illegal mortuary.
Edo State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Obehi Akoria, called on the public who have corpses at these locations to provide the required evidence to 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,” she 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 Commissioner added, “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.”
The state government, it would be recalled, had 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 closing of business on Friday, September 30, 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,” a government statement added.