UCTH to Conduct Mass Burial of Over 50 Unclaimed Corpses on October 21

The University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) has announced plans to conduct a mass burial of more than 50 unclaimed corpses that have remained in its morgue for years, with some reportedly kept for over a decade.

The hospital management said the decision followed a shortage of morgue space, as relatives of the deceased had allegedly failed to claim the bodies despite efforts to locate them.

Dr David Ushie, Chairman of the Special Task Force on the Evacuation of Abandoned and Unclaimed Corpses at UCTH, said the mass burial had been scheduled for Wednesday, October 21, 2026, following a three-week grace period.

Ushie urged families and individuals with relatives whose bodies remain in the hospital’s mortuary to identify and retrieve them before the deadline.

He warned that corpses still unclaimed after October 21 would be buried without further notice.

“The October 21 deadline remains firm. The hospital would not issue another notice before carrying out the mass burial,” he stressed.

Earlier, Dr Stephen Ogbudu, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee in charge of Clinical Services, spoke on behalf of the Chief Medical Director, Professor Ikpeme Ikpeme.

Ogbudu attributed the growing number of unclaimed corpses partly to the rising cost of burial ceremonies and cultural practices that place substantial financial obligations on bereaved families and their in-laws.

He explained that the directive covered bodies that had remained in the mortuary beyond the statutory 90-day period from the date of admission.

According to him, some of the corpses had been in storage for more than 10 years.

Ogbudu said the prolonged storage had put pressure on the hospital’s mortuary facilities, making the planned evacuation necessary to create additional space, improve sanitation and provide a better environment for clinical services.

The hospital has renewed its appeal to anyone with information about the unclaimed bodies to contact its management before the October 21 deadline.