GULU – Maj. Santo Okot Lapolo, the Resident District Commissioner Gulu has banned the transfer of unclaimed bodies from neighbouring districts to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital mortuary, reports Uganda Radio Network.
This follows complaints from the hospital administration over the increasing burden of corpses from Omoro, Nwoya and Amuru districts.
Maj. Lapolo says that the Hospital is meant to aid patients referred to the facility for treatment but not dead bodies.
Dr Elima James, the Hospital Director notes that the facility is highly burdened by the high rate of at which dead bodies referred from other districts are abandoned yet they do not have the resources to dispose them.
According to Dr Elima, the mortuary has six refrigerators for storing bodies and some inadequate space where treated bodies can be kept in the open.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 15 unclaimed corpses have been buried by the hospital in the public cemetery. The bodies that delay at the morgue, destabilizes the ambience at the hospital.
