Kisii morgue full to capacity as more families delay burial rites

The 100-body modern mortuary at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital in this photo taken on 15/9/2021. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]

Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital morgue is grappling with congestion, with some families forced to take the bodies of their kin to private facilities.

The move is attributed to traditions, especially where dowry has to be paid for to bury a wife or husband and the various succession cases in courts. The Standard established that on Sunday morning, the facility with a capacity of 21 bodies had a total of 121.

Four of these bodies remain unclaimed, while three have attached police cases. The old morgue has eight unclaimed bodies and three others with police cases.

By Monday morning, April 10, officials in the health department were seeking out families of people whose bodies have been lying at the facilities for 14 days to pick them up and ease congestion.

The morgue serves nearly 80 per cent of the Kisii County population and parts of Nyamira, Homabay and Migori counties.

The hospital is now relying on private hospitals in the area, which are also full and whose capacity is only limited to not more than 38 bodies.

Kisii County Director of Public Health Dr Richard Onkware said there is no law on how many days one should keep a body in the morgue. "The order was only issued during the Covid-19 period, and for now, we do not have any Act on the same.

Health Chief Officer Gladys Aminga said the issue was being handled amicably among all concerned parties. "Everything will be sorted to have families bury their loved ones without any outcry." A Senior County Public Health Officer told The Standard that owing to the limited storage space for bodies, the hospital morgue is overstretched.

"The morgue receives bodies from murder scenes, accidents and those from within the facility. There are days the cold room receives close to 15 bodies a day. There is also the sense that we cannot keep away families seeking to keep bodies at the public facility."

The hospital charges Sh500 for the preservation of a body daily, while private facilities charge between Sh700 and Sh1,200.