Nairobi residents have been given seven days to identify the bodies of their loved ones currently lying at the City Mortuary, Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital and Mbagathi Hospital morgue.
Failure to do so within this timeframe will result in Nairobi County disposing of all the 185 unclaimed bodies.
City Mortuary has 130 unclaimed bodies, Mbagathi Hospital Mortuary has 38 and Mama Lucy Hospital Mortuary has 17.
The unclaimed bodies have accumulated in the mortuaries between September 2021 and December 2023, with their registrations stemming from multiple police stations.
“Pursuant to Public Health Act Cap 242 [Subsidiary: PUBLIC HEALTH (PUBLIC MORTUARIES) RULES, 19911 (2). Interested members of the public are asked to identify and collect the below-named bodies within 7 days, failure to which the Nairobi City County will seek authority for disposal,” the public notice read.
The move has stirred a debate in the country because some of the bodies are of people suspected to have died by suicide.
There is concern that family members of the people who died by suicide may not be aware that their kin are dead.
Other causes of death according to Acting County Secretary and Head of County Public Service Patrick Analo include road accidents, murder, sudden deaths, natural deaths and mob justice.
Public Health Act Cap 242 of 1991 states that an unclaimed body should be removed from a mortuary within fourteen days, failure to which it will be disposed of in a mass grave only after the public officer obtains permission from the court.
