233 unclaimed bodies at Kenyatta National Hospital set for mass burial
The Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi. The Public Health Act says an unclaimed body should be removed from a mortuary within two weeks. If not, it should be buried in a mass grave.
What you need to know:
- The bodies will be buried in one grave because no one has turned up to collect any for the final rites.
- Relatives and friends have 21 days to get the bodies, with reports indicating that authorities are already seeking consent for burial in order to create room for more at the crowded mortuary.
- According to a list released by KNH Chief Executive Evanson Kamuri, children are the most affected group by this seemingly growing problem.
Loved in life, alone in death. This statement captures the status of 217 children and 16 adults, whose bodies have been lying at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) mortuary in Nairobi for four months.
The bodies will be buried in one grave because no one has turned up to collect any for the final rites.
Relatives and friends have 21 days to get the bodies, with reports indicating that authorities are already seeking consent for burial in order to create room for more at the crowded mortuary.
According to a list released by KNH Chief Executive Evanson Kamuri, children are the most affected group by this seemingly growing problem.
Many die at the hospital every month but their bodies are never claimed.
“We want to create space for fresh bodies and cannot do this until the right procedure is followed. It is an ongoing process,” Dr Kamuri said.
However, the question on many lips is: How, and at what point, does one take the decision to abandon a loved one at a mortuary?
Are relatives unable to give their loved ones a decent sendoff, owing to the hard economic times?
Do they stay away to avoid the huge hospital and mortuary bills?
There is no data on unclaimed bodies in Kenya, but from the estimates obtained at hospitals, it is clear that many lives end this way.
People whose bodies end up in unmarked mass graves mostly hail from poor families.
Some are loners who live on the margins of society with nobody to look after them.
Some are abandoned long before their death by a society that probably considered them to be of little or no value.
Sadder still, most of the bodies were abandoned at newborn units, raising the question of whether this happened before or after the infants died.
About 101 of the unclaimed bodies were taken in for mortuary services.
High mortality
The list released by the hospital further indicates that the bodies piled up from July to August, which could be a pointer to high mortality at the country’s main referral hospital.
“If the number of bodies abandoned in the last month is about 217, how many deaths are recorded at the hospital?” a nurse, who did not want to be named, asked.
When it became clear that no one was claiming the bodies, the hospital published their names.
The Public Health Act requires that an unclaimed body be removed from a mortuary within two weeks.
If not, it should be buried in a mass grave after public officers obtain permission from a court.
The hospital said a list of the names is available at the KNH Farewell Home and can also be accessed through the institution’s website.
The Nairobi devolved government buried 236 unclaimed bodies from various mortuaries in September.
Some 218 were reported as unclaimed at City Mortuary while 18 were from Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital.
The causes of death ranged from abortion and miscarriage to critical illness.
“We don’t send mothers home with the bodies of their premature babies. Some are aborted and others are brought in dead,” Dr Kamuri said.
In some countries, unclaimed bodies are used for medical research and teaching.
