The management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) has told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament that there has been an improvement in the conditions at the main mortuary of the hospital since external auditors discovered in June 2025 that human body parts were being kept in black plastic bags outside the facility instead of the cold room.
Following the explanation that steps had been taken to improve conditions at the mortuary, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has announced that it will undertake an unannounced inspection of the mortuary to verify the said improvement.
According to the Chairperson of the Committee, Abena Osei-Asare, the inspection will be conducted jointly with the Audit Service to verify the claims by hospital management that the mortuary’s facilities have improved and that human tissues and other waste are currently being properly disposed of.
At a hearing of the Committee in Parliament on Monday, (October 19, 2026), during consideration of the Auditor-General’s performance audit of mortuary facilities in public hospitals, it came up that auditors had discovered the human tissues in black bags outside the facility.
It was in response to this performance audit finding that the management of the hospital explained that the situation has improved since then.
Ms Abena Osei-Asare said the Committee would visit the facility without prior notice to establish whether the improvements reported by management were reflected in the actual conditions at the mortuary.
“We will go with the auditors to see exactly what you have said. You’ve told us today to confirm whether truly there is a standby generator and all the other capacities that you said you have introduced into the morgue,” she said.
“These submissions were made under oath and so when we go there we will really want to find out what exactly happened. If what they are saying corresponds to what is really on the ground, then fair deal. If it is not, then the necessary sanctions will be applied,” she added.
Discovery
The photographs, taken on June 20, 2025, showed human tissues in black plastic bags outside the mortuary building.
Auditors told the Committee that the hospital’s pathologist had identified the contents as human tissues which should have been kept in the cold room pending mass burial.
Improvements
Management of the hospital told the Committee that steps had been taken to improve conditions at the mortuary.
Hospital officials said an incinerator was now being used to dispose body parts and shafts, while a licensed contractor collected residual waste.
They also reported that the cold-room capacity had increased to more than 500 bodies, from 270 recorded by the auditors during their earlier inspection, when equipment breakdowns had reduced the facility’s capacity.
Officials of the Mortuaries and Funeral Facilities Agency confirmed that the mortuary had a capacity of 537 bodies following a compliance inspection the previous week.
The hospital further told the Committee that mortuary attendants had been provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) and that staff had received training in infection prevention and control.
Management also reported the installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras across the mortuary.
It said three staff members involved in an unauthorised release of a body on May 5, 2025, had been suspended without pay for three months and reassigned.
Concerns
Despite the explanations from management, some Committee members expressed reservations about the reported improvements.
One member observed that people often cleaned their homes before receiving visitors, suggesting that an inspection arranged in advance might not reflect the usual conditions at the facility.
Mrs Osei-Asare said the unannounced visit would help establish whether the hospital’s claims were borne out by conditions on the ground.
“We are all going to end up there one day,” she said, underscoring the need to treat the dead with dignity.
New mortuary
The Committee was also informed that a proposal for a public-private partnership to develop a larger mortuary and funeral home at Korle Bu had reached the ministerial stage.
Hospital officials said the proposed project, if approved, would help ease the persistent overcrowding at the facility.
They explained that the pressure on the mortuary was partly due to the hospital’s dual role as a tertiary institution and Accra’s main facility for keeping unidentified and unclaimed bodies.
