The county government of Nairobi has announced that it will dispose of 292 unclaimed bodies that have been lying in three of its mortuaries.
Through an advert published in the dailies on Friday, Nairobi County Secretary and Head of Public Service Jairus Musumba said the bodies will be disposed of in a week’s time.
City Mortuary has 214 unclaimed bodies, Mbagathi hospital mortuary has 50 and Mama Lucy hospital mortuary has 28.
The public has been asked to identify and collect the bodies in the three mortuaries before seven days elapse.
The move has stirred a debate in the country because some of the bodies are of people suspected to have died by suicide.
There is concern that family members of the people who died by suicide may not be aware that their kin is dead.
Other causes of death listed by the county government in the notice include road accidents, murder, sudden deaths, natural deaths and mob justice.
The county published some names of the dead people in the dailies on Friday.
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.
