Ebonyi State Government yesterday banned embalming and keeping corpses in homes.
The government said the practice was not acceptable, describing it as criminal, unhealthy and barbaric.
The ban followed discovery that some persons in some communities in the State had been embalming and keeping corpses in their houses for long time preparatory to burial.
Addressing newsmen in his office yesterday, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Daniel Umezuruike said the government will not hesitate to sanction anyone found in the act.
He noted that embalming and keeping corpses in the home can lead to an epidemic and called on those practicing the act to desist from it.
“Any mortician that indulges in this is a disgrace to his profession and will be arrested and prosecuted. This is because a lot of diseases can be transmitted through that means. There is also a form of putrefaction taking place and building up of micro-organism when you do this. The agent (chemical) used in this embalment is not healthy, it causes allergy and reactions of various levels to human beings. So, it is unacceptable.
“Anybody you see doing that, report the person to the police and to us because it is the duty of the police to ensure that a dead person should be kept in a right place,” he said.
Source – The Authority
