The University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Cross River State, has fixed October 21, 2026, as the deadline for families and individuals to claim uncollected corpses in its mortuary before a planned mass burial.
The hospital said the exercise became necessary because some bodies had remained in its mortuary for several years, including some preserved for more than a decade, occupying space needed for its operations.
David Ushie, chairman of the hospital’s Special Task Force on the Evacuation of Abandoned and Unclaimed Corpses, said a public notice had been issued to give relatives and individuals who deposited the bodies an opportunity to identify and retrieve them.
“The hospital has given relatives and individuals who deposited the corpses three weeks to identify and claim them. Any bodies remaining unclaimed after the 21 October, 2026, deadline will be evacuated for mass burial without further notice,” Ushie said.
Ushie, who heads the hospital’s Department of Pathology, said the notice was intended to give families sufficient time to complete the identification and retrieval process.
The Chief Medical Director of UCTH, Ikpeme Ikpeme, announced the deadline on September 29 during the inauguration of the task force in Calabar.
Represented by Stephen Ogbudu, Deputy Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee in charge of Clinical Services, Ikpeme said the directive applied to corpses that had remained in the mortuary beyond the statutory 90-day period from the date of deposit.
He disclosed that some bodies had been in the facility for more than 10 years.
The hospital attributed the accumulation of unclaimed corpses partly to the high cost of burial ceremonies and cultural practices that place considerable financial demands on bereaved families.
It said the planned mass burial was intended to decongest the mortuary, improve sanitation and provide a more conducive environment for clinical services.
The hospital urged members of the public who suspect that the remains of missing or deceased relatives may be at the facility to contact the relevant authorities and complete the necessary procedures before the October 21 deadline.
The special task force comprises officials from the hospital’s Legal, Surveillance, SERVICOM, Corporate Affairs and Sanitation departments. Ewa Alexander of the Legal Department serves as its secretary.
