The county government of Nairobi has announced that it will dispose of 193 unclaimed bodies that have been lying in three of its mortuaries.
Through an advert published in the dailies on Sunday, Acting County Secretary Patrick Analothe County said that there were 169 unclaimed bodies at the City Morgue and 24 at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital.
“Pursuant to Public Health Act Cap 242, [Subsidiary; Public Health (PUBLIC MORTUARIES) rules,1991] (2). Interested members of the public are asked to identify and collect the below-names bodies within 7 days,” the notice read.
The public has been asked to identify and collect the bodies in the three mortuaries before seven days elapse.
Public health officials have expressed concern over the increasing number of unclaimed bodies
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 is dead.
Other causes of death listed by the county government in the notice include road accidents, murder, sudden deaths, natural deaths and mob justice.
The county published some names of the dead people in the dailies on Friday.
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.
The counties of origin for the majority of the bodies are marked as unknown.
On February 10, the county disposed of 250 bodies after obtaining a court order to do so.
The unclaimed bodies had been kept at City Mortuary, Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital Mortuary and Mbagathi Hospital Mortuary.
