Mild drama as Police abandon corpse, patrol vehicle at National Hospital

There was a mild drama at the National Hospital, Abuja, on Sunday, as policemen from the Mabushi Police Division abandoned the corpse of a victim of a cult clash on the premises of the medical facility.

Their action, it was gathered, followed the refusal of the mortuary attendants to accept the corpse on the claim that there was no space in the morgue.

Annoyed by the mortuary attendants’ action, the policemen allegedly abandoned the corpse on the floor and were on their way out when the security guards of the hospital locked the gates to prevent them from leaving.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the reaction angered the policemen, who then abandoned their patrol van at the gate and left for their station.

An eyewitness said the cops took a taxi back to their station .

The NHA spokesman, Dr Tayo Haastrup, confirmed the incident, adding that policemen from the Mabushi Police Division usually dumped unidentified corpses in the hospital’s morgue.

“We did not accept the corpse because there was no space in the mortuary; but instead of taking the body away, they abandoned it and blocked our gate with their vehicle,” Haastrup added.

But the acting FCT police spokesman, Gajere Danjuma, said the policemen were forced to abandon their patrol van because the security guards shut the gates.

He noted that the officers were asked to pay N30,000 before the corpse would be accepted, adding that the men had earlier taken the corpse to the Maitama General Hospital, where it was also rejected.

Danjuma said, “Why would the National Hospital demand N30,000 from the policemen to accept the remains of a young man who was killed during a cult clash and his body abandoned on the road? The men had initially taken the body to the Maitama General Hospital which rejected it, claiming that there was no space in their morgue.

“The men then moved the corpse to the National Hospital, but the workers asked them to pay N30,000. The officers told them that they were all government workers and they could not pay for performing their duties. But the mortuary attendants refused to listen and instead locked the gates and prevented our men from leaving.”

The police spokesman, however, said the issue was resolved after the intervention of the FCT Commissioner of Police, who directed that the body should be taken to the Wuse General Hospital mortuary.