Holding out for nearly $9,000 in unpaid medical bills, one hospital in Uganda allegedly refused to hand over the dead body of a patient who had received oxygen therapy for several days.

Tofa Tamale said he tried to reason with hospital managers, hoping for an arrangement that would preserve his mother’s dignity. After a lawsuit was threatened, the body was released to the family but with no post-mortem report.

“The hospital didn’t give us a single piece of documentation,” said Tamale, who believes his mother had Covid-19 before she suffered a stroke.

The case, one of two publicly known as the East African country sees a surge in Covid-19 infections, has shocked many in a socially conservative society where bereavement customs are strictly observed.

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