The Malindi Sub County Hospital received a mobile mortuary to help preserve the bodies of the followers of controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie.
Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) donated the 300-body capacity container as a stop-gap measure after hospital authorities raised the red flag over the mortuary’s capacity to hold the bodies being retrieved from the Shakahola forest.
KRCS Coast Regional Manager Hassan Musa told journalists the mobile morgue will be domiciled in a large container, and it will be able to help the County Government of Kilifi preserve the bodies of the victims of fasting in Shakahola.
At the same time, Musa stated that more than 300 families had gone to the Tracing Centre established at the Mortuary of the Malindi Sub County Hospital to report their lost relatives.
Dr Job Gayo, the Kilifi County Public Health Coordinator, praised the Kenya Red Cross for its kindness and said it would be very helpful in resolving the situation hospital officials have been facing.
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He said that the mortuary at the Malindi Sub County Hospital could only hold 20 bodies and that it would only be used to keep the dead of Mackenzie's supporters in storage. In contrast, the hospital's main mortuary would continue to do so.
According to Dr Gayo, 82 bodies from Shakahola have already been transported to the sub-county mortuary. At the same time, eight more are being kept in the mortuary of the Kilifi County Referral Hospital.
According to hospital administrator Said Ali, the mobile mortuary's temperatures range from minus five to plus ten degrees Celsius, allowing for good body preservation.
Families rushing to the mortuary to report a loved one missing are growing increasingly desperate as time goes on since the bodies that have been exhumed so far are unrecognisable.
