The mortuary at Isiolo County Referral Hospital is struggling to keep up with the growing number of unclaimed bodies.
The facility has a capacity of just 12 bodies and is now storing 32, which is 20 more than the recommended maximum.
According to Isiolo County Medical Services Chief Officer Abdirahman Ibrahim, the facility is the only one in the county and houses victims of bandit assaults, road accident casualties, stillbirths, and the corpses of those who died naturally.
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"This is the only mortuary serving Isiolo, Marsabit and parts of Samburu. Bodies collected by the police are brought here,” said Ibrahim.
"We only have four refrigerators to preserve the 12 bodies. I'm sure you can now understand how dire the situation is," he added.
The head officer explained that because the dead piled up and remained unclaimed, they regularly broke down the devices designed to preserve them.
Ibrahim said that a lack of collection of newborn remains and stillbirths for burial had exacerbated the issue. He links this to regional cultural taboos that restrict the collecting of bodies for this purpose.
"The majority of families do not collect newborn remains. Stillbirths continue to build up, taking up much-needed space," he noted.
The county advertised earlier this month that the public could pick up 11 unclaimed remains within 21 days, failing which they would apply for disposal.
The medical services chief officer said that the county, commanded by Governor Abdi Guyo, had already tendered to repair the machinery that preserves the remains for Sh10 million, with work set to begin next week.
