At least 250 unclaimed bodies were disposed of last Friday after City Hall attained a court order.
According to County Executive Member for Health Anastasia Nyalita, City Hall made an application before the city court in a miscellaneous application no.2 of 2023 to be given a green light to dispose of the bodies after the expiry of the seven-day notice.
"On January 27, 2023, the health services sector published a seven-day notice in the local dailies highlighting 292 unclaimed bodies lay in the various hospital mortuaries," she said.
Upon the expiry of the seven-day notice, a total of 42 bodies had been identified and claimed respectively as highlighted by Nyalita.
The application came up for mention on February 9, 2023, and on the same day, the court granted the health sector orders to dispose of the unclaimed bodies.
"The Nairobi County health services has been granted the authority to dispose of 250 bodies that lay unclaimed in various county mortuaries," Nyalita added.
As a result, the 250 bodies were disposed of last Friday, in accordance with the Public health Act Cap 242 Laws of Kenya.
Sudden death, mob justice, suicide, and killings are the leading causes of death of people in Nairobi whose bodies end up unclaimed at city mortuaries.
The 292 bodies had been spread across three mortuaries in the city, namely, Mama Lucy hospital, Mbagathi and City Mortuary. The city morgue holds the lion’s share of 178 bodies.
Analysis of the notice shows that out of the 178 unclaimed declared at the City Mortuary, mostly of men, 88 deaths are attributed to either sudden death, murder, mob justice or suicide.
This raises concern about the apparent prevalence of mental health problems in the city predominantly among men that go unnoticed, leading to their sudden death or taking their lives.
From the notice, 63 men died suddenly. Some 10 deaths are attributed to murder while eight are due to suicide. Other causes of death listed in the notice include accidents, natural causes and downing.
The records show that mob justice claimed seven lives.