Nakuru gives relatives 21 days to collect bodies

Nakuru North cemetery.

Workers clearing bushes at the Nakuru North cemetery. The county has issued a 21-day notice to members of the public to collect 46 unclaimed bodies lying at the devolved unit's public mortuary.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

Nakuru County has issued a 21-day notice to members of the public to collect 46 unclaimed bodies lying at the devolved unit's public mortuary.

County public health officer, Mr George Gachomba, urged residents to help trace and identify the corpses and collect them within the given period.

He noted that there are 26 unclaimed adult bodies and 20 unknown foetuses which have been lying at the facility for more than three months.

In a notice issued Monday, Mr Gachomba warned that the government will dispose of the bodies in a mass grave at Nakuru South cemetery should the owners fail to show up and collect them.

According to the officer, the county has resorted to the decision after exhausting all the available mechanisms to trace their next of kin without success.

He, however, explained that the department has released a list of the bodies indicating the scenes of crime and nature of death, as well as escort contacts to assist in tracing next of kin.

Mr Gachomba regretted that uncollected and unclaimed bodies have been congesting the mortuary and that the county is incurring huge costs in preserving them.