Kilifi receives 200-capacity refrigerators for Shakahola bodies
Refrigerated containers deployed at Malindi Hospital for preservation of bodies from Shakahola village where exhumation is ongoing after mortuary was overwhelmed.
The Kilifi County Government has received 200 capacity refrigerated containers from the Kenya Red Cross Society to preserve bodies from Shakahola, where dozens of followers of a cult fasted to death and were buried clandestinely.
The government began the exhumation of bodies from secret graves on the sprawling 800-acre property owned by controversial pastor Paul Mackenzie last week, Friday, April 21.
In an interview in his office on Tuesday evening, Kilifi County Executive Committee member for Health Peter Mwarogo said the mortuary at the Malindi Sub-county Hospital was full and cannot accommodate more bodies.
A total of 65 bodies had been received from Shakahola since Tuesday.
"The Malindi mortuary has a capacity of 30 bodies. We were overwhelmed because we already had 29 bodies from different areas. It was a challenge for us to keep 94 bodies," he said.
Mr Mwarogo said the hospital was working to overcome the challenge and had decided on a refrigerated container.
"We are expecting the refrigerated container so that by Wednesday we can start moving the bodies from Shakahola out of the mortuary," he said.
The CEC said the survivors — people who were starving themselves so that they could go to heaven — were being treated and discharged to free up space at Malindi Sub-County Hospital.
"Most of the survivors are admitted when they are weak and have received special treatment. But we are handing them over to the police so that the hospital can attend to other patients," he said.
He said the county was waiting for instructions from the national government as it continues to preserve the bodies.
Mr Mwarogo noted that eight bodies have been taken to Kilifi County Referral Hospital mortuary due to lack of space at Malindi Sub-County Hospital mortuary.
"We will keep the bodies at the Malindi mortuary now that we have the refrigerated container, while the national government carries out other procedures," he added.
A total of 90 bodies had been exhumed from the Shakahola massacre by Tuesday, April 25. Of the bodies, 82 are at the Malindi sub-county hospital mortuary.
