Oyo issues 7-day ultimatum over unclaimed mortuary bodies

The Oyo State Government has given families seven days to identify and claim unclaimed corpses in public hospital mortuaries or risk a mass burial.

Oyo State just put a clock on the dead. The government has issued a seven-day ultimatum to families of unclaimed corpses piling up in public hospital mortuaries, Tribune Online reports.

Health Commissioner Dr Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi says mortuaries are bursting at the seams — many bodies came in through the Police and FRSC after road crashes and other incidents, and despite earlier appeals, they’ve just sat there.

The goal: decongest the facilities, tighten up management, and keep public health standards intact. Ajetunmobi is urging anyone missing a relative to head to the nearest public hospital mortuary within the week for identification.

Miss the deadline, and it’s a mass burial — all in the name of sanitation and freeing up space.