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‘EFSTH has no mandate to depose unidentified dead bodies’

May 20, 2022, 11:14 AM | Article By: Ismaila Sonko

Kebba Nyancho Sanneh, the Principal Public Relation Officer (PPRO) at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) has admitted that some corpses have been at the Banjul Mortuary since the time of former President Jammeh . However, he stated that the hospital has no mandate to get rid of those unidentified corpses.

Mr. Sanneh’s comments came on the heels of a video that was making rounds on social media in which a lady claimed that a staff of the hospital had shown her a 40-feet container stationed at the Death House containing over 40 unidentified dead bodies.

The video claimed that officials could smell the odor from outside the facility.

According to the video, the cadavers have been in the container for years and the authorities responsible are “not doing anything” to find a solution to remedy the situation.

She called on Gambians “to stage a massive protest” against the situation.

Mr. Sanneh said most of the dead bodies that came to the hospital were escorted by the police and that it's the responsibility of the police to identify those bodies so that they could be buried.

Mr. Sanneh said people should understand that the hospital is not responsible to burying the corps. “They can only keep them at the mortuary.” 

According to him, they were given a go-ahead for the mass burial for those corps which will be done soon and the public will be notified.

PRO Sanneh said the institutions are governed by the rule of law and that those regulations cannot be passed for own favour. "We believe that those bodies have not interfered with our jobs because our services delivery system has not been interrupted by those corpses at the mortuary.”