MORE oversized fridges are being installed in mortuaries for larger corpses as the country deals with an obesity problem.

More than 40 have been put in place across Scotland and three in Greater Glasgow in the last five years.

Lanarkshire health board has put six in place while Grampian has installed 28.

Lothians health board said it is carrying out work on a new refrigerated body store which will have capacity for obese deceased patients.

In Glasgow he health board said it has always had larger fridges in its mortuaries and currently has three dozen for larger bodies.

The figures were obtained by the Scottish Conservatives under Freedom of Information requests to Scotland’s health boards.

The party said it was more evidence of an “obesity epidemic”.

Miles Briggs, health spokesman said: “Obesity is fast-becoming Scotland’s number one health crisis.

“This is a problem across all age groups and all sections of society.

“It means people’s lives are being needlessly cut short and the cost to the NHS is rising.”

The Tories said that the extra amount of larger fridges was proof that more effective preventative work was required to deal with the country’s growing weight issue.

Mr Briggs added“This research shows the situation is even forcing health boards to invest in bigger mortuary fridges to cater for those obese patients who have passed away.

“Far more work is needed across the board to help get Scotland’s population fitter and healthier.”

In Greater Glasgow hospitals 8$ of fridges are oversized to cope with larger bodies.

A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) confirmed it has had three new large fridges installed in the last five years for storage of obese deceased patients.

She said: “The Board has 467 mortuary spaces, 37 of which are larger sized spaces.

“NHSGGC has always had a certain number of larger spaces.

“In 2012, when the new mortuary was built at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, 22 larger sized spaces were created.

“Similarly in 2015 three new larger spaces were created during the building of the new mortuary at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.”

Five of Scotland’s 14 health boards have installed oversized fridges for deceased patients in the last five years.

Greater Glasgow and Clyde with three, Lanarkshire with six, Grampian with 28 Lothian with two and Dumfries and Galloway with two.