The Management of St. Anthony’s Hospital, Dzodze, in the Ketu North Municipality, has sent notice it would no longer admit new bodies to its morgue at odd hours.

In view of this, dead bodies would only be accepted for depositing at the Hospital’s mortuary from 0800hours to 1600hours on Mondays to Saturdays.

The decision contained in a press release signed by the Hospital's Administrator, Mr Raphael Tumawu, formed part of measures to curtail the menace of alleged tampering of bodies deposited at the mortuary.

There have been at least two reports from families of corpses at the Saint Anthony’s Hospital mortuary who complained of the missing body parts of their dead relatives, raising suspicions of tampering with bodies at the morgue.

Personnel at Dzodze District Police Command have picked up about ten suspects in connection with the missing human parts at the morgue and are currently helping with investigations.

But even before the outcome of the police investigations, the Hospital Management and the Keta-Akatsi Catholic Diocesan Health Directorate had decided to introduce periods within which to admit new bodies believing that time of admission of the bodies could be responsible for the tampering.

“Families of deceased clients are also advised to prepare towards the necessary requirements for the immediate embalmment of fresh bodies.

“This decision is part of measures geared towards curtailing the menace of tampering of bodies which were deposited during odd hours. This is in line with the fact that the bodies, which were being tampered with were bodies awaiting embalmment as a result of admission at odd hours,” the release said.

Mr Tumawu concluded by entreating “the general public to adhere to this policy on dead body admission at the Hospital’s mortuary whilst we assist the police in unraveling the cause of the menace”.