Ebonyi State government has banned residents from embalming and keeping corpses in homes.

The state Commissioner for Health, Daniel Umezurike, announced the ban in Abakaliki, the state capital, on Tuesday.

He said the practice was “unhealthy, criminal and can lead to epidemics.”

He added that any medical practitioner, who indulged in the practice, would be arrested and prosecuted.

“Any mortician that indulges in this is a disgrace to the profession; the doctor would be arrested and prosecuted. Diseases can be transmitted through that means; there is also some form of putrefaction taking place and building up of micro-organism.

“The chemical used in this embalmment is not healthy; it causes allergy and other reactions to human beings, it is unacceptable,” he said.

Umezurike urged the people to report anybody who indulged in such act to officials of the state Ministry of Health or to the police.

Azeez