The Nakuru county government will build additional morgues to ease congestion in the existing ones.
In an interview with Hivisasa.com on Wednesday, Nakuru Health Chief Executive Kabii Mungai said morgues in most health facilities in the county were overstretched.
He said one of the new morgues, Maiela, which cost the county government Sh6 million and has a capacity of 40 bodies, is set to be opened in November.
The county government has also upgraded the public mortuary in Gilgil and plans to build a new morgue in Kuresoi at a cost of Sh10 million.
“This will enable us to preserve more bodies which has been a challenge due to the frequent accidents along the Nakuru–Nairobi highway,” Mr Mungai said.
Nakuru PGH mortuary, popularly known as Jacks Place, will also see its capacity increased to 64 bodies, he said.
Mungai pointed out that unclaimed bodies were part of the reason why most of the facilities were congested.
“We are calling on residents to help in the identification of the bodies so as to ease the congestion in the facilities,” he added.
Residents welcomed the initiative, saying it was long overdue.
“We feel that this will enable the morgue attendants to handle the bodies better,” said Mary Nyarwai, a resident.
Another resident, Peter Muchemi, said services at the Gilgil mortuary had improved following its upgrade.