•Commends Vanguard for drawing govt attention to deplorable condition

By Emma Amaize

DELTA State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Nicholas Azinge, has directed the authorities of Bomadi General Hospital, Bomadi in Bomadi Local Government Area of the state, to stop embalming corpses outside the hospital’s mortuary.

Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State

Dr. Azinge undertook a visit to the hospital following a report by Niger Delta Voice, a Vanguard Publication, a fortnight ago, that mortuary attendants embalmed corpses in the open to the vagaries of weather, day and night, at the dilapidated health institution.

The Commissioner told Saturday Vanguard at his office in Asaba: “We visited Bomadi hospital and saw the state of the facilities, I was accompanied by the member of the House representing Bomadi, Hon Kenneth Preyor and the Commissioner representing the area, Barrister Newworld Safugha and others.”

Azinge did not say that he saw corpses outside the mortuary when the team visited, but pointed out that he had instructed the authorities on measures to curtail overflow from the morgue.

He, however, commended Vanguard for drawing government’s attention to the pitiable condition, but pleaded that in future, it should not rush to the press, but inform the ministry, which is proactive enough to intervene and address the anomaly, as it had done in the present case.

According to him, “In a way we want to thank them (Vanguard) for bringing the matter to our attention, but at the same time, we want to ensure that that issues like this are not misinterpreted or misconstrued by members of the public.”

“This matter was dealt with almost the same day that it was reported; I say this so that patients and public do not get the impression that work is not being done. In future, we want to partner with Vanguard and other media that when they discover things that are wrong, if they bring them to our notice, we are open and willing to fix the problem before they are taken out and people begin to panic.

He, however, said the way the paper published the story would certainly make people panic and in the process, more errors would be committed.

To prevent re-occurrence, he said, “We have advised that other issues that caused the corpses to be there should be reduced, the amount of time and bureaucracy to get death certificate must be expedited. The local government must try to facilitate paper work for people to carry the remains of their loved ones. We have asked the authorities that in future when the place is full, they should stop accepting bodies and process bodies in the next nearest hospital.”