Nairobi — Nairobi City County has announced plans to dispose of 193 unclaimed bodies lying at the City Mortuary and Mama Lucy Hospital.

In a public notice circulated on Sunday, the County announced that there were 169 unclaimed bodies at the City Morgue and 24 at Mama Lucy Hospital.

"Pursuant to Public Health Act Cap 242, [Subsidiary; Public Health (PUBLIC MORTUARIES) rules,1991] (2). Interested members of the public are asked to identify and collect the below-names bodies within 7 days," the notice read.

City Hall said it will proceed to seek authority to dispose the bodies if relatives of the deceased persons do not claim them in a week.

The cause of death for the persons listed in the notice ranges from suicide, electrocution, drowning, shooting, murder, natural, and "sudden".

The counties of origin for the majority of the bodies are marked as unknown.

If granted, the petition to dispose the bodies will raise disposal figures to over 500 in 2023.

Overstayed bodies

On February 10, the county disposed of 250 bodies after obtaining a court order.

The unclaimed bodies had been preserved at City Mortuary, Mama Lucy Kibaki hospital mortuary and the Mbagathi hospital mortuary.

The court granted health sector directions/orders for disposal of the unclaimed bodies in accordance with the Public health Act on February 9..

In August, the Kenyatta National Hospital issued a similar notice saying that it was in possession of 233 unclaimed bodies giving relatives of deceased persons seven days to identify and collect them.

Similar notices have been issued by a number of counties including Nyeri and Kisumu.

Kisumu's Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital also issued a 14-day notice in July for disposal of 21 unclaimed bodies that lay in its morgue.

The health facility said the bodies had overstayed at the morgue having remained unclaimed for more than three months.

By Mercy Sowek