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Patients shun hospital over unclaimed bodies
The main entrance of Lyantonde Hospital. Patients and health workers have deserted the hospital over a stench emanating from unclaimed bodies in the old hospital mortuary. Courtesy photo
LYANTONDE. Patients and health workers have deserted Lyantonde Hospital over a stench emanating from unclaimed bodies in the old hospital mortuary. Flies hover all over the hospital wards, forcing patients and care takers to cover their nose to avoid the bad smell.
When Daily Monitor visited the hospital, some patients were seen standing under trees outside the hospital building. The hospital mortuary was constructed in 1955 to accommodate only three bodies but there is an overflow with more than 10 unclaimed bodies.
According to some health workers who preferred anonymity, some patients discharged themselves while others preferred to spend the night in the cold outside the hospital building. When Daily Monitor visited the hospital, three unclaimed bodies had been clasped in a small old mortuary.
“Those people were murdered last Saturday night and none of the relatives had come to claim them,” said a patient who preferred anonymity.
The three unclaimed bodies are believed to be of Rwandan refugees who escaped from Nakivale Refugee Camp in Isingiro District and crossed to Kashagama Sub-county in Lyantonde District where they were murdered. The dead have been identified as Tasania Mukanyandwa, 45, his son Alifosi Sabomana 20 and daughter Olivia sabomana 19.
