Corpse mistakenly exchanged by hospital in Jos exhumed, returned to family
Story from Yakubu VENTIM, Jos
Trouble ensued on Wednesday in Jos, Plateau State when the corpse of a 33-year-old David Atimbi Adi was mistakenly exchanged with another at the Bingham University Teaching Hospital (BUTH) in Jos.
Serious Pandemonium started in the early hours of Wednesday when the family members of the deceased from Bassa Local Government Area of the state stormed the hospital with buses to convey their corpse for burial but discovered that the corpse was not at the mortuary.
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The deceased family sealed the entrance into the hospital which created a commotion, thereby causing heavy gridlock; demanding the management of the hospital to provide the corpse.
It was learned that the corpse was deposited in the hospital last week Thursday for burial after seven days but was missing when the family got to the morgue.
A brother to the deceased, Paul Atimbi who spoke to journalists said they went to the BUTH mortuary where they deposited the corpse only to discover that the corpse wasn’t in the mortuary.
Atimbi explained that they mounted serious pressure on the hospital’s management to provide the corpse which they later discovered that the mortuary attendant had released the corpse to a different family for burial.
It was gathered that the corpse was released to a different family last Monday and was buried at Mista Ali in Bassa Local Government Area of the state.
The management of the hospital after intensive pressure went to the village and exhumed the decomposed corpse which was handed over to the legitimate family.
It was learned that the wife to the first deceased person had insisted that the corpse wasn’t that of her husband but was shut down by the family members who proceeded with the corpse for burial.
The Chief Medical Director BUTH, Prof. Stephen Anzaku while reacting to the unhealthy development blamed the mortician on duty for mislabeling the corpse.
He said two corpses were all brought to the hospital Thursday last week and morticians mislabeled the corpses while the first family had taken their own corpse on Monday and buried not knowing it was a wrong corpse, until Wednesday when the second family identified that their own corpse was not in the mortuary.
“What really happened was the case of mislabelling of two corpses that were brought to the hospital last Thursday in the night and at the same time; the corpses were received by mortician on duty and embalmment was done that night.
“After the embalming, they labelled the corpses, so at that point, there was mislabeling and the corpses were swapped.
The CMD said the matter has been resolved and both families identified their corpses after exhuming the first corpse that was buried at Mista Ali.
“This is actually an embarrassment because the hospital has been existing for over 60 years and nothing as such has ever happened. This is the first time and bitter experience to us as a hospital and we will investigate and put modalities in place to ensure that this incident does not repeat itself”, he assured.
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