Sunyani Regional Hospital begs families to come for remains for burial

Correspondence from Bono Region

Authorities at the Bono Regional Hospital in Sunyani have expressed fears that the hospital’s morgue will be overstretched in the coming weeks.

These fears are borne out of the decision by many families to reschedule their funerals to a later date.

The decision to reschedule funerals has also compelled many families to renegotiate with the hospital to continue to preserve dead bodies of their loved ones.

But hospital authorities have revealed that the arrangement will come with some consequences as there are strong indications that the morgue will be overstretched and will not be able to accept new bodies if the situation persists.

According to the Deputy Head of Administration of the hospital, Mr Umar Adams Mengu, the only way to salvage the situation is for family members to come for the bodies for burial.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Ghanaweb’s Bono Regional Regional correspondent, Aboagye Addo Frank, Mr Umar attributed the problem to the ban on all public gatherings in the country.

He revealed that most people have misconstrued the president’s message to mean there is a ban on burial too.

“We are anticipating that the mortuary will be full in the next one or two weeks if people don’t come for the bodies for burial.

“Following the president’s directive, many people have rescheduled their funeral s and refused to come for the bodies in the morgue”.

He continued that “others have also misinterpreted the directive to mean they cannot bury their dead relatives but that is not the case. We are using this medium to appeal to families to come for their bodies in order to create spaces for other people,” Mr Umar pleaded.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on March 25, 2020, banned all public gatherings including conferences, workshops, funerals, festivals, political rallies, church activities, and other related events.

The directive, however, indicated that private burials are allowed but should just be with limited numbers, not exceeding twenty-five (25) in attendance.

The directive by government forms part of measures to stop the spread of coronavirus in the country.