Court orders Ho Teaching Hospital to release corpse to rightful claimant

THE grief of Mr Bright Ohene, 34, a driver at Dzolo-Gbogame, in the Ho West District over the death of his younger sister, Believe Ohene, a nurse, took a turn for the worse when he turned up at the Ho Teaching Hospital to settle the mortuary bills and process the necessary paper for the removal of the corpse from the mortuary.

To his disbelief, he was told that his name as the next-of-kin of the deceased had disappeared from the records of the deceased, and that the name of one of the mortuary attendants who is a distant relative of the deceased was now on file in that capacity.

That sparked a five-month bitter rancour between one faction of the family which backed the brother of deceased as next-of-kin and the other which threw its weight behind the mortuary attendant.

However, a Ho High Court on Thursday ruled that Bright and his mother were the defendants in the injunction requested, brought before it by the other faction would suffer irreparable damage if the order was granted.

The court maintained that the applicants had failed to establish any condition that merited the grant of the injunction order they were seeking.

“The status quo shall be maintained. The funeral shall proceed as planned. And the applicants as the extended family shall co-operate and facilitate the burial of the deceased. They cannot dictate what should be done,” the court said.

Mr Justice N.M.C. Abodakpi, presiding on the case, dismissed the application filed on September 17, saying it was not only unmeritorious but also mischievous, and tainted with bad faith.

The court awarded GH¢ 2,000.00 against the applicants, in favour of the respondents.

It ordered the Chief Executive Officer of the Ho Teaching Hospital to release the corpse to Bright Ohene forthwith.

Speaking to the Ghanaian Times after leaving court, Bright Ohene said that he was highly relieved and that he would bury his late sister who died on April 5, this year, in a fitting way this weekend.

FROM ALBERTO MRIO NORETTI, DZOLO-GBOGAME