Corpse of day-old baby missing at Ondo mortuary

Confusion ensured as the corpse of a day-old baby has been declared missing from the mortuary of the Ondo State Specialist Hospital, Akure.

The incident, which has thrown management and staffers of the hospital into confusion, happened on Saturday after the baby who was Brought In Dead, B.I.D, alongside the body of its mother, who reportedly died during delivery, could not be found when family members came to pick up the corpses for burial.

It was gathered that the new born baby and the mother had during labour, given up the ghost at the Police Hospital, Akure, with their remains deposited at the morgue of the government-owned hospital on Wednesday.

According to a source, who craved anonymity, “the deceased mother and the new born baby died during labour at the police hospital and immediately their remains were deposited at the morgue of the state hospital.”

She added that the family of the deceased, on getting to the hospital, on Saturday, to take the corpses for burial, met only the remains of the mother while the deceased baby was missing.

“When the family of the deceased got to the hospital mortuary today (Saturday), to collect the remains of dead, they only saw the body of the mother and the placenta but they could not find the baby.

“The mortuary attendants could not explain how it happened.”

The source added that the family members of the deceased almost caused crisis on the hospital premises following the incident, which they promptly alerted the police.

Consequently, the Ondo State Police Command has commenced investigation into the circumstance that surrounded the missing corpse.

The Ondo State Command Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Femi Joseph, who confirmed the incident, stated that investigation has commenced to unravel circumstances which led to the disappearance of the corpse of the baby.

“We have not made any arrest for now but we have commenced investigation into the matter.

“We will invite the workers of the hospital, especially those working at the mortuary section.”

Also reacting, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Wahab Adegbenro said the matter had been handed over to the state police command for further investigation.

“We have handed the mortuary attendants to the police to do the investigation. We will be waiting for their investigation,” he said.

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