Nairobi residents have been given seven days to identify bodies of their loved ones currently lying at the City Mortuary and Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital morgue.
Failure to do so within this timeframe will result in Nairobi County disposing of all the 193 unclaimed bodies.
In a notice issued on Sunday, Acting County Secretary Patrick Analo revealed there are 169 unclaimed bodies at the city mortuary and 24 at Mama Lucy Hospital.
“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 notice read.
In a past interview with the Star, the Head of City Mortuary Doctor David Wanjohi said that City Mortuary has set aside a specific place in the freezers for the unclaimed bodies, as they cannot be mixed with others that have been paid for.
Public health officials have expressed concern over the increasing number of unclaimed bodies
Between 2003 and 2006, the City Mortuary disposed of 2,500 unclaimed 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.
