The Godfrey Okoye University Teaching Hospital, Enugu has secured a court order to conduct a mass burial of 33 bodies abandoned at the mortuary of hospital.

According to the vice chancellor of the university, Rev. Prof. Christian Anieke, some of the bodies have remained unclaimed for 18 years at the former Ntasi Obi Ndi Nona Afufu hospital.

He advised members of the public to go to the former Ntasi Obi Ndi Nona Afufu, and check if any of the abandoned corpses there was that of their relations or people they know.

Anieke explained that an Enugu High Court had granted an order for the management of the hospital to carry out a mass burial of the corpses if they were not removed from the mortuary within the 21 days allowed.

The vice chancellor, who described the abandonment of the corpses in the hospital as challenging, said the directive was to enable the management of the university teaching hospital to renovate the morgue and make it befitting for a teaching hospital.

According to him, the families of the 33 corpses in the teaching hospital’s mortuary should take them away and give them befitting burials.

He announced that the university would commence the admission of students into its school of nursing and midwifery before the end of January 2024, stressing that academic and administrative staff, facilities, including a bus donated by the Parents Forum of the university were ready for the take off of the new courses.

Aneke commended the staff for their commitment to service, pointing out that Godfrey Okoye University is known for discipline and cannot disappoint the public as new tertiary institutions look on to the university for leadership and urged the staff not to relent in their duties but strive for more achievements.