Kenyan hospital to dispose of unclaimed bodies including 475 babies

Kenya’s largest public referral hospital has announced it will dispose of hundreds of unclaimed bodies currently at its morgue if family members are unwilling to collect them.

“Interested members of the public are therefore requested to identify and collect the bodies within seven days, failure to which the hospital will seek authority from the courts to dispose of them,” the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) said on Tuesday in a notice published in the privately owned The Star newspaper.

The 541 bodies include 475 babies and 66 adults.

The hospital published the names of the deceased, but the identities of a few of the bodies are unknown.

KNH and other public hospitals and morgues in Kenya frequently issue notices for relatives to collect unclaimed bodies.

Bodies that remain uncollected after the grace period are often buried in mass graves.

The bodies are usually of patients who die in hospital without the knowledge of their families.

Some families also opt to abandon bodies of their loved ones in mortuaries when they cannot afford to clear their hospital or mortuary bills.