By Antynet Ford
Kenyatta National Hospital has issued a seven-day notice of disposal of unclaimed bodies lying at its funeral home.
The national referral hospital has given the public seven days to identify their loved ones who might be on the list failure to which it will proceed to dispose of them.
The bodies that are lying at the facility’s morgue are set to be disposed of after the lapse of the period.
The hospital said it is acting in compliance with Public Health Act Cap 242 Subsidiary legislation Public Health Public Mortuaries rules, 1991.
The list of 541 unclaimed bodies comprises 475 babies and 66 adults.
Seven of the adult bodies are female with the remaining 59 being male.
“Kenyatta National Hospital has several unclaimed bodies at its farewell home.” KNH stated.
“Under Public Health Act Cap 242, interested members of the public are therefore requested to identify and collect the bodies within seven days, failure to which the hospital will seek authority from the courts to dispose of them.” It added.
In October last year, KNH issued a 14-day notice to the public to collect some 224 unclaimed bodies.
Various hospitals across the country have continued to bear the burden of preserving unclaimed bodies in their facilities.
Most of them are emergency victims rushed to the hospitals by good Samaritans or accident victims whose bodies are taken to the morgues by the police who respond to the incidents.
In September last year, for instance, the Machakos government issued a notice on the plans to dispose of 31 unclaimed bodies lying at the Machakos Level 5 Hospital mortuary.