Gatundu residents have raised concerns over a stench emanating from Gatundu Level 5 Hospital mortuary, especially at night.
"This place becomes a no-go zone especially at night because of the foul stench emanating from the morgue. The situation should be addressed immediately by the relevant authorities," resident Francis Muiruri said.
The mortuary that serves the expansive Gatundu South and North constituencies has a capacity of nine bodies.
It is overstretched and can no longer take in more bodies.
The hospital management has acknowledged that the 57-year-old mortuary is experiencing serious capacity gaps in preservation of bodies.
Dr Jesse Ngugi, the hospital's medical superintendent has even written to subcounty police commanders in the two constituencies advising them not to take more bodies to the facility.
In a letter dated June 7, Ngugi indicated that the crisis has been occasioned by increase in hospital workload, collapse of the morgue freezers and 'unavoidable' delay in processing of disposal of unclaimed bodies.
"The purpose of this letter is to inform you that owing to the aforegoing, we will not be able to receive bodies outside the usual hospital workload. Kindly consider taking such bodies to General Kago Funeral Home in Thika," the letter reads.
He said the current capacity at the mortuary remains constrained until the problems are solved.
"The above requires both systematic and operational interventions that the management has embarked on," he said in the letter.
In 2018, former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu intervened after news broke out of the pathetic situation at the facility. He set aside Sh50 million for construction of a new 36-body capacity morgue.
The project, however, stalled as soon as Waititu was removed in January 2020.
Residents said completion of the facility will save the current situation, which they said is in dire need of immediate action.
"The situation is alarming and calls for immediate attention. The county government has taken too long to address this issue. It's clear that bodies are not being preserved properly and are being neglected because of the stench coming from the facility," resident Francis Njung'e said.
In August 2013 when former Gatundu MP Joseph Ngugi requested for expansion of the mortuary at Gatundu Level 5 Hospital during a function attended by former President Uhuru Kenyatta, he was shouted down by his constituents.
Ngugi reneged on his request to the government after residents turned hostile against him. Residents said that expanding the morgue would spell doom for them as many would die.
A decade later, it has dawned on them that their former MP was right and the project would be of significant help to the community.
However, there's light at the end of the tunnel and the crisis might become a thing of the past after the Kiambu government allocated Sh15 million for completion of the new facility in the 2023-24 budget.
