Kenya’s Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) has issued a notice to families, giving them a week to claim the remains of their deceased loved ones for burial. The hospital, which serves as the largest referral healthcare facility in East and Central Africa, revealed that it will dispose of the remains of 541 individuals, including 475 babies, if not claimed within the stipulated time frame.
In a public announcement and by publishing a list of unclaimed bodies, KNH stated its intention to seek a court order to dispose of the bodies once the seven-day deadline elapses. This is not the first time such a notice has been issued by KNH; previously, in January, the hospital called upon the public to identify and claim deceased family members within a one-week period. Similarly, last October, KNH reported a backlog of 200 unclaimed bodies, primarily infants, at a Nairobi-based funeral home.
Although KNH did not specify the reason behind the decision to dispose of the remains, a similar situation was reported at Machakos Level 5 Hospital, another health facility in Kenya. In January, the hospital announced its plan to limit the number of bodies accepted into its morgues due to space constraints. Daniel Yumbya, Machakos County Health Director, attributed the overflow of bodies to prolonged abandonment and revealed that the mortuary’s capacity is far exceeded, with only 24 spaces available.
This issue is not unique to KNH and Machakos Hospital; in September, Machakos Hospital disposed of 31 corpses, and in March of the same year, they disposed of additional bodies following court orders. The high cost of hospital and mortuary fees has been cited as one of the contributing factors to this situation, according to health authorities in Kenya.
