Nairobi City County is set to dispose of 193 unclaimed bodies at the City Mortuary and Mama Lucy Hospital.
In a public notice circulated on Sunday, the County announced that there were 169 unclaimed bodies at the City Morgue and 24 at Mama Lucy Hospital.
“Pursuant to Public Health Act Cap 242, [Subsidiary; Public Health (PUBLIC MORTUARIES) rules,1991] (2). Interested members of the public are asked to identify and collect the below-names bodies within 7 days,” the notice read.
The County said it will proceed to seek authority to dispose of the bodies if relatives of the deceased persons do not claim them in a week.
The notice lists several different causes of death for the people it mentions, including suicide, electrocution, drowning, shooting, murder, natural causes, and "sudden."
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Most bodies have "unknown" next to their county of origin.
If the petition to dispose of the dead is approved, the number of disposals will increase to around 500 in 2023.
Following a court ruling, the county disposed of 250 bodies on February 10.
The unclaimed dead had been preserved at City Mortuary, Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital Mortuary, and Mbagathi Hospital Mortuary.
On February 9, the court issued health sector directives or orders for the disposition of unclaimed bodies in conformity with the Public Health Act.
Similar notices were published in August by the Kenyatta National Hospital, which said it had 233 unclaimed bodies and gave the heirs of the deceased seven days to locate and retrieve them.
Several counties, including Kisumu and Nyeri, have published similar advisories.
A 14-day warning was also issued in July by Kisumu's Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital for the disposition of 21 unclaimed bodies that were lying in its mortuary.
According to the medical facility, the bodies overstayed their welcome at the mortuary after going unclaimed for over three months.
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