KNH gives notice on unclaimed bodies

 

Kenyans have one week to identify and collect 418 unclaimed bodies lying at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), failure to which they will be interred.

In a public notice on Tuesday, KNH said the 418 bodies have been lying at the facility’s funeral with no next of kin coming forward to claim them.

“Pursuant to Public Health Ac Cap 242 (Subsidiary Legislation Public Health Mortuaries Rules, 1991), interested members of the public are asked to identify and collect the bodies within 7 days, failure to which KNH will seek authority for disposal,” read part of the notice.

Cap 242 of the Public Health Act says an unclaimed body should be removed from a mortuary within two weeks or else it is disposed of in a mass grave after public officers obtain a court’s permission.

The hospital said the list of bodies is available at the funeral home and can also be accessed digitally through the facility’s website.

Public health facilities in the county have in the past expressed concern over the increasing number of unclaimed bodies, with City Mortuary being the most affected.

On Monday, the Kisumu County government disposed a total of 61 bodies that had been lying in the county’s various mortuaries in mass graves after obtaining court orders.

The county also gave a one-week window for relatives to show up for the remaining 16 unclaimed bodies lying at the Kisumu County Referral Hospital and Ahero sub-county hospital.

City Hall, and recently Nairobi Metropolitan Services, have on several occasions raised concerns over the high number of the bodies lying in its mortuaries.    BY DAILY NATION