The county administration has announced that it will dispose of 17 unclaimed bodies that have been lying at the Nakuru County Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary.

Through a letter dated May 5, 2023 addressed to the County Commissioner as seen by Mtaa Wangu, the management of the facility through Senior Public Health officer Florence Basweti said the bodies have continued to cause congestion in the facility.

According to the letter, the 17 adult unclaimed bodies have been lying at the mortuary for months.

While noting that the management has exhausted all available mechanisms to trace their next of kin without success, the management says upon lapse of the 21 days, it will take the next step of disposing the bodies at the Nakuru South Cemetery.

“The bodies have been lying at the mortuary for more than three months and are in the state of decomposing,” reads part of the letter.

The letter has also been copied to the County Public Health Officer, Registrar of Births and Deaths, the Magistrate Nakuru Law Courts and the County Commandant of Police.

It should be noted that the law requires the county government to do so before making any decision for disposal of bodies.

Public Health Act Cap 242 of 1991 states that an unclaimed body should be removed from a mortuary within fourteen days, failure to which it will be disposed of in a mass grave only after the public officer obtains permission from the court.

Nakuru County Public Health officer George Gachomba, in a past interview said such bodies besides congesting the mortuary, also costs the government a lot of money to preserve them.

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County to dispose 17 unclaimed bodies

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Pristone Mambili