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Bereaved families within the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area have begun moving the bodies of their deceased relatives from the Kyebi Government Hospital morgue in response to a directive by the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin.
On Monday, April 20, 2020, the Okyenhene gave a month’s ultimatum to families of deceased persons to take the bodies from morgues in the Akyem Abuakwa State for burial, in the face of congestion concerns due to the restriction on funerals.

The Daily Graphic gathered that bodies removed from the Kyebi Government  Hospital morgue were either sent for private burial or to private morgues outside Akyem Abuakwa.

Impact

In an interview last Monday, the Medical Superintendent of the Kyebi Government Hospital, Dr Richard Nii Darku Dodoo, said families were adhering to the directive by Osagyefuo Ofori Panin.

“No bodies were retrieved from the morgue for burial, except those of Muslims, during the lockdown, but due to the directive by the Overlord of Akyem Abuakwa, some families have, out of fear and panic, taken out the bodies of their deceased relatives for burial.

“Others moved the remains of their relatives to private morgues within and outside the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area, although the morgue at the Kyebi Government Hospital is not full to capacity," he said.

Again, he said, residents of the traditional area had developed the habit of calling the hospital to confirm the operation of the morgue before bringing the bodies of their deceased relatives for preservation.

COVID-19 combat

Dr Dodoo said the hospital was ready for the fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), but no positive case had been recorded there.

He said all suspected cases in the hospital turned out negative, but the authorities were awaiting the result of a pending case.

He said the hospital had all the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers, as well as other essential items which were donated by institutions and the traditional authorities to deal with the pandemic.

The hospital had also created a seven-bed isolation ward and two holding centres for suspected patients, he added.

Numbers reduced

The Mortuary Manager at the hospital, Mr Adams Nuhu, said since the directive from the Ofori Panin Fie, the morgue had been relatively busy every weekend.

As a result of that, he said, the number of dead bodies at the morgue had reduced drastically.

“The morgue’s capacity is 100, and we currently have about 40 bodies in it. We still have a lot of room for bodies to be deposited should anyone want to have his or her relative kept here.

“After the directive, on average we eject 14 bodies from the morgue on weekends, which is far more than we did during the lockdown,” he said.