The head of the anatomy department at the Nishtar Medical University and Hospital in Multan clarified on Friday about the rotting, mutilated bodies found on the rooftop of its morgue which shocked the country.

Dr Mariam Ashraf, the HoD, appeared on a show hosted by journalist Shahzeb Khanzada on Geo News, while she also issued a vide message about the bodies

“We do have cold storage rooms where we keep the bodies preserved and safe,” she said.

The hospital regularly receives bodies from the police, which are unknown, unclaimed and/or unidentified. “Most of the bodies that we receive have already started to decompose. They are not in a condition to preserve. We keep those bodies on the rooftop,” she said in the video message.

She added that some of the bodies and cadavers were used for academic purpose, such as demonstration of medical practices to the students.

“Each and everything we practiced are according to the rules and regulations declared by the home and health department,” she said.

She also rebutted wild claims swirling on social media that hundreds of bodies were discovered from the roof. “This is completely wrong. We do have the record of each body we kept here. We have shared that data with the respective authorities,” she added.

A day earlier, Moonis Elahi, the son of the Punjab chief minister, had shared a thread on social media quoting Dr Mariam Ashraf.

Harrowing visuals, shared widely on social media, showed at least a dozen corpses on the roof in different stages of decomposition and missing vital organs.

It also resulted in confusion over the number of bodies found, with some claiming the number is as high as 500.

Tariq Zaman Gujjar, an adviser to the Punjab chief minister, raised the alarm on Friday after finding the bodies during a visit to the hospital. Those at the scene said that the CM’s aide had been informed - either about the abandoned bodies or the stench emanating from the roof - which is why he made a beeline for the rooftop.