By Antynet Ford
Kenyatta National Hospital has issued a seven-day notice over the disposal of 262 unclaimed bodies.
Out of the 262, 242 of the bodies are infants.
The bodies that are lying at the facility’s morgue are set to be disposed of after the lapse of the period, KNH said in a public notice.
KNH provided a list of names, genders, and tag names of the bodies urging the public to identify the bodies soon.
“Under Public Health Act Cap 242 [Subsidiary: Public health (Public mortuaries) Rules, 19911 (2). Interested members of the public are therefore requested to identify and collect the bodies within 7 days failure to which the hospital will seek authority from courts to dispose of them.” The notice stated in part.
Of the 262 unclaimed bodies at the hospital, including 120 females, 141 males, and one with an unspecified gender.
Seven bodies will be disposed of after the hospital receives consent from the respective families.
The hospital has called on members of the public to identify and claim the bodies within the specified period.
“Failure to do so will compel the hospital to seek authority from the courts to dispose of them.” They said.
This is not the first time the hospital has moved to dispose of unclaimed bodies.
On June 25, 2024, the facility issued a seven-day notice to the public to collect some 395 unclaimed bodies.
Earlier on June 6, 2023, the hospital also announced it had planned to dispose of 238 unclaimed bodies from its morgue.
Between 2003 and 2006, the City Mortuary disposed of 2,500 bodies. The number for KNH was 3,000.
In 2006 Kenya’s two main public mortuaries (City Mortuary and Kenyatta National Hospital Mortuary) lost millions in uncollected revenue from unclaimed bodies.
Various hospitals across Nairobi County have continued to bear the burden of preserving unclaimed bodies in their facilities.
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