Unclaimed bodies at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital mortuary identified
Seven out of nine unclaimed bodies that have been lying at the Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital mortuary in Nairobi have finally been identified.
The bodies, which have been lying at the facility for almost four months, were identified by homicide detectives following a request by the hospital’s management to the team for help in the identification process.
IDENTIFIED BODIES
The Medical Superintendent at the hospital, Dr Musa Mohamed, said they wrote to the detectives on September 8 for an intervention before the team conducted the tests releasing the results on Saturday.
He said the identification was done through the use of fingerprints taken from the bodies.
However, the identification process of two of the nine bodies is yet to be completed but Dr Mohamed gave an assurance that the hospital is still working on ways of identifying the bodies.
Those identified are Eugine Wabure Wechuli (ID number 31942404), Peter Macharia Mwango (ID 35626948), Samuel Etili Aiyamai (ID 29601734), and Daniel Oruru Amuzama (14433995).
Others are Raphael Kwetu Kasamani (25780813), Dismas Leokono (21852126) and Benjamin Boma Wasike (24205386).
“We are now calling for the families of the identified bodies to come forward and pick the bodies for burial or disposal,” said Dr Mohamed on Monday.
ACCRUED BILLS
Governor Mike Sonko said the county government will waive accrued morgue bills for those who will show up to collect the bodies but are not able to clear such bills.
“If the relatives feel they cannot afford picking their bodies as a result of lacking money to offset outstanding bills, we have mechanisms of helping out which could include waivers on the charges,” said Mr Sonko.
Dr Mohamed stated that most of the bodies at the hospital are victims of road accidents, adding that the hospital’s emergency department receives patients from across the country where in some cases, the patients have no documents to ascertain their identity.
“We occasionally receive accident victims whose identity is not known or have no relatives accompanying them when being admitted for treatment and that is why we involved the homicide police to help us,” he said.
City Hall has been grappling with increasing numbers of unclaimed bodies in its health facilities with the county raising alarm over the issue as the numbers hit 273 as at early this month.
City Mortuary, Mbagathi Hospital and Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital mortuaries are some of the most affected hospitals with untaken bodies still lying at the facilities’ morgues with City Mortuary having 172 unclaimed bodies, Mbagathi 97 and Mama Lucy 9.
Last month, City Hall even advertised for the collection of the unclaimed bodies across the county hospital mortuaries.