What happens when relatives abandons and fails to collect the bodies of their loved ones from the mortuary?
How do a mortuary handle unclaimed bodies that exceeds the recommended capacity?
If you are still imagining and visualising the situation, that is the exact scene that meets your eye when you enter Nakuru Level Five mortuary.
Many bodies have been abandoned there.
According to the hospital's medical superintendent, Dr. Joseph Mburu, the mortuary at the moment has 39 unclaimed bodies against a capacity of 72 bodies.
The hospital records indicate that the county government buried 97 unclaimed bodies in a mass grave.
Furthermore, 50 bodies have been lying at the mortuary for more than four months awaiting identification and collection.
To make a long story short, Nakuru county has been grappling with the puzzle of many unclaimed bodies at the mortuary.
Due to this, every year the county has to incur heavy preservation costs of the bodies.
"The bodies have to be preserved like the rest despite the duration they take at the facility," said Dr. Mburu.
The county is now preparing to dispose off many unclaimed bodies. At the same time, the county will have to deal with the problem of full cemeteries as they plan to dispose the 39 unclaimed bodies.
"We have already acquired permission for disposal of 21 bodies which are ready for burial once the county government gives us some space.
"The remaining 18 will be buried on a later date," added Dr. Mburu.
#bizarre