The County Government of Nairobi has taken action and disposed 97 unclaimed bodies that were lying at the Mbagathi Hospital.
This is following a court order that was obtained after concerns were raised in regards to high numbers of dead bodies lying in the hospital.
The court order was later issued on October 16, 2019 by City Court magistrate R. Oganyo granting the disposal of the bodies after the family members failed to claim them.
“Upon hearing the application for disposal of 97 unclaimed bodies presented before me by the counsel for the applicant, it is hereby ordered that the application to dispose the attached list of 97 bodies is granted ,” read the order.
The 97 bodies detailed 56 males and 41 females that have been lying in the morgue since 2017, which against the Public Health Act that states a body should lie in a Hospital mortuary for about two weeks and later get disposed.
Read: Nairobi County To Dispose Of 97 Unclaimed Bodies In A Week’s Time
One month ago, the Nairobi County Government had issued a seven-day ultimatum to family members to collect the bodies that had been lying at the Mbagathi Hospital for months.
The notice was published in a local daily, alongside the names of the deceased to allow room for identification.
“Members of the public are asked to identify and collect the below named bodies within seven days. Failure to have them collected will force the County Government to seek jurisdiction authority and have them disposed,” read the notice.
Among the 97 bodies was Paul Muchai an elderly man who died aged 70 and has been lying in the mortuary since April 3, 2017.
The City Hall administration linked the accumulation of the dead bodies in the hospital to relatives who failed to clear the hospital bills that had doubled over the period of time.
The bodies were disposed at the Lang’ata cemetery.
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