By Mercy Osajiugo
Minna – Dr Hauwa Kolo, Head, Accident and Emergency Unit, General Hospital, Minna, has called on the Niger State Government to provide a freezing system for the General Hospital’s morgue.
Kolo, who is also the State’s Coordinator for Non-Communicable Diseases and Cancer Control, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Minna.
According to her, the unit is expected to cater for hundred dead bodies at a time.
She said that currently, the hospital usually advised bereaved families to take the body of their deceased to where they had such facilities.
“Since the freezing machine here broke down, we advise some bereaved families to take the body of their deceased to the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida Specialist Hospital, Minna, where the facility is functional.
“Our hospital would have repaired the one that we have but it is irreparable and a new machine will be cheaper to buy,’’ she said.
Kolo said that the mortuary unit had been leased out to private operators who were into embalmment, adding, however, that some bereaved families still preferred the freezing system to embalmment.
According to her, this is why they refer such clients to the IBB Specialist Hospital where the facility exists in good condition.