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Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) has announced plans to dispose of 124 unclaimed bodies if they are not collected within seven days.
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In a statement released Tuesday, the hospital appealed to members of the public to visit its Farewell Home and identify any relatives before it proceeds to seek court approval for disposal.
“KNH currently has several unclaimed bodies at its Farewell Home,” the statement said.
“In accordance with the Public Health Act Cap 242 [Subsidiary Legislation Public Health (Public Mortuaries) Rules, 1991], members of the public are urged to identify and collect the bodies within seven days. If not claimed, the hospital will seek legal authority to dispose of them.”
The list includes individuals of varying ages and genders, from infants to adults, with tag numbers provided to assist with identification.
Under the Public Health Act, those who leave a body in a public mortuary for more than ten days are subject to a daily fine of one hundred shillings. If a body remains unclaimed for 21 days, the hospital may dispose of it, provided it has obtained court orders and given a 14-day public notice.
Hospitals across the country continue to face the challenge of storing unclaimed bodies. In April, Nakuru County issued a 21-day notice for the disposal of 59 bodies that had gone unclaimed for three months at the County Referral and Teaching Hospital and the Annex PGH Public Mortuary.
The notice listed 15 adult and 22 infant bodies at the Annex PGH, and 22 adult bodies at the Nakuru Teaching and Referral Hospital.
Earlier, in February, the Nairobi County government issued a similar seven-day notice for the collection of 236 unclaimed bodies—218 at Nairobi City Mortuary and 18 at Mama Lucy Kibaki Funeral Home.
The unclaimed bodies were linked to various causes of death including road accidents, suicide, mob violence, drowning, shootings, homicide, and natural causes.
