The hospital urged bereaved families, whose deceased relatives had been in the mortuary for three to six weeks, to make immediate arrangements for burial or transfer them to alternative facilities.
The refurbishment of the 600-capacity cold room is aimed at enhancing service delivery at the facility.
Refurbishment
The facelift, which started yesterday, involves servicing and replacing some parts of the cold rooms.
The management of the hospital announced its decision to suspend taking in fresh bodies and BID cases from last Monday.
It said the refurbishment was necessary to ensure better service delivery at the country’s premier tertiary healthcare facility.
Transfer of bodies
Korle Bu Teaching Hospital’s Head of Public Relations, Mustapha Salifu, clarified that the hospital is not shutting down its cold room facility but is restricting services from taking bodies from other health facilities. He urged public cooperation for a smooth renovation exercise and revealed that people are already transferring deceased relatives to other facilities.
The hospital is addressing unclaimed bodies by contacting relatives or next-of-kin. The hospital has a system where if a body is not claimed within a certain period, it is contacted by city authorities for burial. However, this system is different from the previous system, which requires families to make arrangements for burial or transfer to alternative facilities. The restriction does not apply to cases from KBTH itself.
Apology
He expressed his sincere regret to the public and stated that the action was taken to improve the cold room’s capabilities so that the public could be served more effectively.
As we strive to improve our services, we really regret any trouble this may have caused and value your cooperation.
“To successfully start the renovation, we need the public’s full cooperation,” he stated.
Source: Graphic Online
