UPTH mortuary workers allegedly gouge dead baby’s eye in Port Harcourt
Police in Rivers have arrested some staff of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, UPTH mortuary, over the alleged mutilation of an 18-month-old child.
The child, Chuma, had died of anaemia on August 3, 2018.
Chuma’s father identified only as Sunday, according to TheSun, returned to the hospital two weeks after her demise to pay the mortuary bill when he discovered that both of her eyes had been gouged out.
He promptly reported the matter to the police after the mortuary workers couldn’t explain how the body parts got missing. He said he was also prevented from taking photos of the corpse.
“Even while the baby was still breathing, one of the nurses had approached me and asked me to pay N30,000 to have the baby buried somewhere,” the father is quoted as saying.
“That got me annoyed. From that moment, they became nonchalant, claiming they were waiting for the blood test until the child died.
“I was so angry I wanted to fight the mortuary attendants. Eventually, I abandoned the corpse to them.
“That very day, I reported the case to the Rivers State Police Command; the next day, I got in touch with my lawyer and we wrote a petition to the Commissioner of Police on September 18.
“Till today, the question I am asking the mortuary attendants is, what happened to the two eyes of my baby?” he added.
Police boss in the state, Ahmed Zaki, confirmed that his command had taken charge of the case. Four mortuary attendants have been arrested for interrogation.
“We sent an invitation letter to the board of UPTH,” he said.
