No Space For New Deaths In Yaounde Central Hospital Mortuary

At least 78 corpses are said to have been abandoned in the Yaounde Central hospital mortuary, exceeding the specified duration by Cameroon law.

The mortuary is reported to be saturated, as about 78 of the present 150 corpses in the mortuary have stayed for more than 90 days ( three months), which is the longest time for a body to be kept in the mortuary by law, with one of these corpses, confirmed to be in the mortuary since the year 2014.

The reason for which these bodies have been neglected is yet to be known by the hospital management.

According to Crtvweb, prior reports from some media platforms indicate that the mortuary had been closed.

However, with claims of visiting the facility on November 26, it was found out from the Director, Prof. Pierre Fouda that the mortuary has never been closed, just some 10 corpses were confined.

“The mortuary has never been closed. The attendants are as usual, busy performing their daily duties of receiving and sending out bodies as ever. Currently, the mortuary is full. As a result, we can no longer receive corpses especially from other health facilities, courtesy of the abandoned bodies because we have to treat and preserve them well”.

The Hospital Director had, on November 10th, 2021, issued a communique requesting families to come for identification and removal of their corpses. However, the call was minimally headed.

In this regard, Prof Pierre Fouda stated that a list of the abandoned bodies will be made public in the nearest future for another opportunity for families to identify and carry home their deaths. Adding that failure to adhere to this, the corpses will be handed to the council Commission in charge of burying such corpses.

? CRTV