Homabay Law Court has issued an order that permits the County Teaching and Referral Hospital to dispose of 12 unclaimed bodies.

The order was issued through the Public Health Officer-In-Charge of sanitation, Nancy Ooko, giving a 14 days’ notice to the public, to enable them collect their kins’ bodies within the time frame and upon the expiry, the bodies be disposed of in conformity with the laid regulations.

The Referral Hospital Administration now intends to follow the court’s order and dispose of the 12 unclaimed bodies, lying at the hospital mortuary facility.

This comes after the hospital had submitted an application on January 1, this year asking the court to grant them permission, to dispose of the bodies as stipulated by the law.

The Hospital further issued the court with a supporting affidavit sworn by the hospital’s Public Health Officer.

According to Ooko, the aforementioned bodies from Rangwe, Kendu Bay, Mbita and Homa Bay Police Stations have overstayed at the hospital mortuary for more than
the stipulated 21 days, hence overstretching the facility which has a capacity to hold up to 22 bodies.

In addition, she said that the facility is serving the entire county and needed to dispose of the unclaimed bodies to create space to accommodate more deserving cases.

Source: Kenya News Agency