*As NMA expresses concern over lack of forensic lab

By Victoria Ojeme

Relatives of the those killed in penultimate Friday’s bombing of the United Nations House in Abuja have only claimed three bodies out of 19,  Vanguard has learnt.

The Public Relations Officer at the hospital, Mr. Taiwo Haastrup, told Vanguard in a telephone interview that only relatives of three of the deceased have so far come forward to claim their bodies.

According to him, 19 bodies have been identified so far but the relatives must apply through the police for a letter of identification and three bodies have been taken so far.

Also, President of Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Dr Idris Omede, who visited the National Hospital morgue last Thursday, expressed concern at the lack of forensic equipment that would aid investigation into establishing formal cause of death of the  victims.

Speaking with newsmen during an on-the-spot tour of the wards where bomb blast victims were being treated at the National Hospital,  Dr. Omede, decried the sorry state of the corpses from Friday’s bomb blast saying, “I went through the morgue, bodies are there, post-mortem has not been done, identification has not been done.”

Rescue operation at the scene of the blast

According to him, forensic identification is a national infrastructure way beyond the scope of the National Hospital, just as he called on the Federal Government to invest in it, in ensuring that issues that have to do with forensic analysis can be easily addressed for the living and the dead.

He said, “there is need for us to have a good forensic system in this country and if we don’t do it, we’ll be doing the wrong thing and I think the time is right for the Federal Government.”

The NMA president also commended Nigerians for the rescue work and response to the call for blood donation, saying, “There was a call for blood donation and before you could say Jack Robinson, they had enough blood to go round the victims that needed it. This again shows that Nigerians are each their brother’s  keepers.”

He said of the victims, “They are 18 on admission now and they are in a very stable condition. In fact, they were all speaking very well.”

Meanwhile, Chairman, Medical Advisory Council of National Hospital, Abuja , Dr. Obasi Ekumankama, has appealed to Nigerians to come to collect or identify the remaining corpses for burial.

One of the survivors’ aunty who refused to be mentioned, said she was flown to London for treatment at the family’s expense.

According to her, “our concern now is for her life to be saved first.”