An aggrieved family resorted to violence at St. Xavier Hospital Mortuary in Assin Fosu, Ghana over the weekend when the facility could not provide a body deposited there for preservation when requested on the day of burial.
The incident occurred at Nuanua Asubone in the Assin South District of the Central Region.
The final funeral rites of 57-year-old Linda Obiri Akufo were scheduled for October 1 and 2nd October 2022.
However, the facility authorities could not provide the corpse when the family went to collect it for burial.
The hospital staff spent a lot of time running around without bringing the corpse. In the end, they came out clean that they could not immediately trace the corpse.
This reportedly angered the family members who had already invited guests for the burial. They engaged the hospital staff in hot arguments and attempted to assault the staff who then took to their heels.
The police were invited to restore calm and order.
According to the husband of the deceased, Nana Atua ‘I’, who is the Ankobiahene of Nunua Asubone, all the necessary arrangements had been made including food and drinks only to be told the body could not be found.
The family had to call off the funeral and apologize to their guests who had travelled from the length and breadth of the country to mourn with the bereaved family.
The Assembly member of Assin Adiembra Electoral Area, Mr. George Oliver Gyimah said after a series of engagements with the hospital management, the facility authorities pleaded for two weeks to search for the body.
The angry family members are accusing the hospital staff of selling the corpse.
The Sister In-Charge of St. Francis Xavier Hospital, Georgina Donzing, pleaded with the public to see the incident as a one-off.
She said the facility is “a human institution and such thing could happen once in a while,” but assured that stringent measures were in place to ensure it does not happen again.
The case has been reported to the police for investigation.
