KNH to dispose of unclaimed bodies of 246 babies
By Maureen Kinyanjui |
On the notice of, the 262 unclaimed bodies at the hospital, include 120 females, 141 males, and one with an unspecified gender.
Kenyatta National Hospital has issued a seven-day notice to the public to collect some 262 unclaimed bodies. Out of the total bodies, 246 are those which belong to infants.
The bodies that are lying at the facility's morgue are set to be disposed of after the lapse of the period, KNH said in a public notice on Tuesday.
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KNH provided a list of names, genders, and tag names of the bodies urging the public to identify the bodies soon.
"Pursuant to Public Health Act Cap 242 [Subsidiary: Public health (Public mortuaries) Rules, 19911 (2). Interested members of the public are therefore requested to identify and collect the bodies within 7 days failure to which the hospital will seek authority from courts to dispose of them," the notice read.
On the notice of, the 262 unclaimed bodies at the hospital, include 120 females, 141 males, and one with an unspecified gender.
Out of the total bodies, 246 are those which belong to infants.
At least, seven bodies will be disposed of after the hospital receives consent from the respective families.
The hospital has called on members of the public to identify and claim the bodies within the specified period.
"Failure to do so will compel the hospital to seek authority from the courts to dispose of them," the notice stated.
This is not the first time the hospital has moved to dispose of unclaimed bodies.
On June 25, 2024, the facility issued a seven-day notice to the public to collect some 395 unclaimed bodies.
Earlier on June 6, 2023, the hospital also announced it had planned to dispose of 238 unclaimed bodies from its morgue.
Public health officials over the years 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.
How bodies are disposed of
Cap 242 of the Public Health Act says an unclaimed body should be removed from a mortuary within two weeks, or it should be disposed of in a mass grave after public officers obtain the court's permission.
Various hospitals across Nairobi County have continued to bear the burden of preserving unclaimed bodies in their facilities.
In April this year, Nairobi County notified its residents to identify 185 unclaimed bodies of their loved ones lying at the City Mortuary, Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital and Mbagathi Hospital mortuaries within a time frame of seven days.
City Mortuary had 130 unclaimed bodies, Mbagathi Hospital Mortuary had 38 and Mama Lucy Hospital Mortuary had 17.
The unclaimed bodies have accumulated in the mortuaries between September 2021 and December 2023.
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