Kenyans who have not collected the dead bodies of their people from the city mortuary have been given 7 days to do so, failure to which they will be disposed of through a mass burial.
Currently, there are 164 unclaimed bodies lying at the city mortuary, which the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) will bury without family consent if not collected.
“Interested members of the public are asked to identify and collect the named bodies within seven days, failure to which the Nairobi Metropolitan Services will seek disposal authority,” said Deputy Director-General Fredrick Oluga in a notice.
While the city mortuary only has a capacity of 176 bodies, this could mean possible congestion since the number is increasing every day.
The notice established that 115 of the bodies are from March 2021 to May 2021, while 49 bodies were from November and December 2020.
ALSO READ: Tala Extends Grants To Help MSMEs Bounce Back From Covid-19 Effects
The increasing number of bodies at the city morgue and the failure of the collection is a result of police negligence. Their reluctance in not following up and bringing in the reports of the deceased after the bodies are admitted is worsening the case.
Some family members, however, have proved to be ignorant and unwilling to go pick the bodies even after being aware of their whereabouts.
The tendency of family members not claiming bodies has been a common occurrence in many major hospitals around the country
Between 2003 and 2006, KNH disposed of 3,000 bodies while the City Mortuary disposed of 2,500 unclaimed bodies losing millions in mortuary fees in the process.
In March 2021, NMS disposed of 119 unclaimed bodies to ease the strain on city morgues. The predominantly male bodies were disposed of between March 17 and March 24, 2021.
Officials say that the cause of death for bodies that have clogged at the mortuary range from mob justice, accidents, drowning, murder, shooting, electrocution, fire, suicide, sudden and natural deaths.