The University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) has concluded plans to conduct a mass burial for 270 unclaimed corpses if they are not claimed within the next six weeks.

Ehizogie Adeyemi, the hospital’s coordinator of mortuary services, disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Benin on Tuesday.

Ms Adeyemi gave the breakdown of the corpses as 201 infants and 69 adults, noting that the hospital had, in a statement, given a six-week ultimatum to the owners to claim them.

The coordinator of mortuary services said the corpses of the 201 infants had been in the hospital since 2023, while those of the 69 adults were there between April 2021 and December 2022.

She said the contact addresses and phone numbers provided by the owners of the corpses to the hospital were no longer reachable or valid.

Ms Adeyemi added that at the expiration of the six-week ultimatum, the hospital would conduct a mass burial for the unclaimed corpses if the owners failed to claim them.

The statement earlier issued by the hospital’s management urged owners of such corpses to claim them within a six-week notice, starting on May 20.

(NAN)