Corpses decomposing at Koforidua mortuary

Corpses deposited at the Koforidua Central Hospital morgue have begun decomposing because the refrigerators are not functioning.

This has compelled the hospital authorities to shut down a section of the mortuary to curb the excessive stench emanating from the place.

The authorities have also begun preserving some of the corpses as a stop-gap measure, The Ghanaian Times gathered.

As part of the measures, some of the corpses have been transferred to the Saint Joseph Hospital, a private facility in the Municipality.

The situation has caused a lot of inconveniences to families whose loved ones have kicked the bucket.

A source at the hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity indicated that all the refrigerators at the hospital’s morgue were faulty, adding that announcements have been made for relatives to come and collect their deceased relations.

The source said the situation is also causing a lot of inconveniences to the workers at the mortuary, and advised the authorities to rectify the situation as soon as possible.

When The Ghanaian Times visited the morgue yesterday a section of it had been shut down.

The paper gathered that the refrigerators in the morgue were not functioning, but the pathologist declined to speak on the issue.

The Administrator of the Hospital, Dr Peter Boating who spoke to the paper said one of the blocks of the morgue was shut down for expansion works to be carried out to create enough space for more corpses.

Dr Boateng hinted the hospital would no longer accept corpses from outside, adding that only those who die at the hospital would be kept in the morgue.

“We are renovating the morgue with our own finances and hence the slow pace of work so dead bodies from outside would cause a lot of congestion at the morgues,” he stressed.