Ondo State will conduct a mass burial for long-unclaimed corpses in overcrowded hospital mortuaries.
Government gave families 21 days to claim bodies before proceeding with the organized burial exercise.
The Ondo State Government has announced plans to conduct a mass burial for corpses that have been left unclaimed in state-owned hospitals, as part of efforts to decongest overcrowded mortuaries and improve the healthcare system.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Prof. Simidele Odimayo, disclosed this in a statement to the press, noting that Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa has approved the exercise after repeated appeals to families of the deceased went unanswered.
According to him, a 21-day ultimatum has now been issued to relatives of deceased persons to come forward and claim the bodies of their loved ones. He emphasized that this period would be the last opportunity before the government proceeds with the planned mass burial.
Prof. Odimayo explained that mortuaries across state-owned hospitals have become overstretched, with some corpses left unattended for several years. He added that some of the unclaimed remains had been preserved as part of criminal investigations, but many of those cases have since been concluded, leaving the bodies abandoned.
“The government has finalized all necessary arrangements to ensure that the burial will be carried out in a respectful and organized manner. Families are therefore urged to take advantage of this grace period to identify and claim the remains of their relatives. Once the deadline expires, the state will have no choice but to proceed,” the statement read.
The state government assured that the process will follow due diligence and international best practices, stressing that dignity would be accorded to all the corpses during the burial. It said the decision was not only necessary to decongest morgues but also critical for maintaining hygiene and effective healthcare delivery across hospitals.
Authorities further appealed to members of the public to cooperate, adding that the exercise was in the overall interest of the state’s health system.
