Isiolo Public Health Department has disposed of 19 unclaimed bodies at Isiolo Referral Hospital’s Mortuary to ease congestion and reduce cost of operations at the facility.
The hospital's public health officer George Gitonga said three of the bodies were at the morgue for more than six months, while the others had been there for over two months.
He said the mortuary, which was recently renovated and new cooling machines installed, had a capacity of 16 bodies.
He said that after the disposal, only six bodies remained since they all have known next of kin.
Gitonga said keeping bodies for that long had significantly increased the cost of operations due to electricity cost and preservation chemicals.
He said the Public Health Act Cap 242 allows the hospital management to dispose of unclaimed bodies for more than 14 days after seeking court consent.
The health officer said most of the disposed bodies were brought to the morgue by police. Some of the deceased were suspected cattle rustlers.
“Some communities prefer not to claim the bodies of their kinsmen killed while stealing animals for fear they could be subjected to interrogation by police,” he said.
Gitonga said the County management had sought a court order before disposing the bodies, adding that they had disposed yet another bunch of bodies in July last year.
He revealed that the management was considering offering unclaimed bodies to universities for their studies instead of dumping them in cemeteries and that the disposal process would take place after every two months.
The bodies are usually disposed of by burying them in a common mass grave.