Over 200 corpses found rotting on roof of Pakistan hospital

Over 200 rotting corpses were found on the roof of a hospital in Pakistan's Multan city on Friday (14 October).

The bodies were found dumped on the roof of the Nishtar Hospital's anatomy department with eagles and crows scavenging on them, reported Geo News.

The Pakistan government has launched an investigation to probe the incident. Parvez Elahi, chief minister of the state of Punjab in Pakistan, constituted a committee to investigate the matter. 

The six-member committee, led by Muzamil Bashir, the specialist healthcare secretary, has been granted three days to conclude the investigation. 

No confirmation or denial has been given yet by any government official over the exact number of bodies. Advisor to Chief Minister, Punjab,Tariq Zaman Gujjar said a hospital insider tipped him off about the rotting bodies on the roof of the mortuary at the hospital.

"I was on a visit in Nishtar Hospital when a man approached me and said if you want to do a good deed then go to the morgue and check it out," Gujjar said.

He said when he reached there the staff was unwilling to open the doors of the mortuary. "I said if you don't open it right now, I am going to file an FIR against you."

Gujjar said when the morgue was finally opened they stepped in only to find at least 200 bodies lying around. "All the decomposing bodies (of both men and women) were bare. Even women's bodies weren't covered."

When asked to explain what was going on they said these were used by the medical students for educational purposes, he added.

"Do you sell these bodies? I asked the mortuary authorities."

Gujjar said he then asked doctors to explain the incident and in response, they said it was not what it looked like as these were used by the medical students for educational purposes, reported Geo News.

A top official from the hospital accused police and rescue workers for the decomposing bodies lying on the facility's rooftop, reported Wion.

Dr Mariam Ashraf, NMU's head of the anatomy department, said that rescue officials and police were to blame for the piling up of bodies in the morgue and on its roof. The medical facility could not refuse to accept the bodies as it was bound to take them in as safekeeping, she added.  

"Police and rescue officials bring bodies and ask us to keep them but they do not take them back on time. We have written to them several times and asked them to take the bodies. Since there is a lag, such things happen." 

Gujjar said, "Two of the bodies on the roof were rather in the early stages of decomposition. Maggots were all over them."

He said he had never seen anything like it in his 50 years of life.

"Vultures and worms were scavenging on the corpses on the roof. Our tally showed there were at least 35 bodies on the rooftop of the mortuary."

Dr Ashraf said when the bodies keep lying, they get infested with maggots who start eating them, and travel from one body to another. This is why the decaying bodies are kept on the roof, where there are three rooms.

The bodies after being used for medical education purposes should have been given a proper burial after Namaz-e-Janaza, but they were thrown on the roof, said Gujjar.

Nishtar's vice-chancellor has also formed a three-member committee for an inquiry into the incident.