Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Plans by the management of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba, Delta State, to give mass burial to over 50 bodies purportedly abandoned at the morgue of the hospital have been uncovered.
The decision of the planned burial, it was discovered, was to decongest the 100 capacity mortuary to create spaces for fresh bodies.
Majority of the abandoned bodies, it was learnt, were allegedly deposited by authorities of Oshimili South Local Government Area, and then abandoned.
Hospital sources claimed that the local council authorities have consistently thwarted efforts by the hospital management to establish a cordial working relationship with the council, particularly on the issue of indiscriminate dumping of bodies at the morgue.
The sources noted that the option of a mass burial was being considered after all efforts to dialogue with the local government authority on the way forward failed.
“A series of official letters and text messages to the local government by the management of the hospital were also ignored.
“Hospital management is particularly disturbed by the long silence of the local government authority on the issue in spite of all the polite approaches the hospital had made to address the issue.
“The local government council has kept mute on several requests by the hospital management, showing nonchalance,” a source said.
Contacted, the executive chairman of Oshimili South council, Mr. Uche Osadebe, kept sealed lips on the issue.
But the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Victor Osaituma confirmed that several letters by the hospital management to the council to address the issue were ignored for inexplicable reasons.
“We are neighbours; we are friends and we shall remain friends even though they have being unfair to us at the hospital,” Osiatuma stated.