The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra is set to carry out a mass burial for some unknown and unclaimed bodies in its mortuary.

The bodies, which include victims of accidents, paupers and those abandoned by family members are expected to be buried within the next two weeks.

A statement from the hospital and signed by the Head of Public Relations, Mustapha Salifu said the mass burial has become imperative because the hospital’s mortuary is “currently full beyond its carrying capacity.”

The announcement follows a similar statement issued by the Police Hospital last Saturday.

Head of Public Affairs at the facility, DSP Yaw Nketia-Yeboah in the statement had noted that while bodies were not being released to the public for funerals due to the ban on public gathering.

He, however, stressed that families who sign an undertaking to comply with existing protocol to hold private burials will be permitted to come for the body of a relative.

Already, the Pantang Hospital in Accra and the Bono Regional Hospital in Sunyani have become congested after families refused to pick up the bodies of their relations.

Most of the families rather want to suspend the funeral until after the ban on public gathering is lifted.

But management of Korle Bu says, some of the bodies at the morgue has been there for “varying periods ranging from one to three years”, long before the ban by Akufo-Addo was put in place.

The hospital is, therefore, urging relatives with dead family members in the morgue to come for them before the mass burial.