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Nairobi City County has blocked the exhumation of a body that was buried at the Lang’ata Cemetery last month.
A Bungoma family wants to be allowed to exhume the body of Sabenzia Chepkesis Killong, which was interred at the cemetery by the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) without their approval.
The family also wants a post-mortem done to establish the cause of death, as well as a permit to re-bury their kin in their home in Ndalu location, Bungoma.
The county, however, argues that if they were to be granted their request, it would mean the exhumation of 18 other bodies at the cemetery, an exercise that would “create a public nuisance”.
County Solicitor Eric Odhiambo Abwao also wondered how the family would recognise their kin, four months after burial.
“If the body of Sabenzia Chepkesis Killong was buried in the mass grave together with 18 other bodies as per exhibit TK4, then exhuming all the 19 bodies in order to take away one body shall be an exercise that may cause public nuisance against the provisions of the Public Health Act, Cap 242,” Mr Abwao said in his affidavit yesterday.
Were the request to be granted, the family should be compelled to put in place elaborate measures to avoid the exhumation of all the 19 bodies, he added.
Mr Abwao said the county handles unclaimed bodies in its Mama Lucy and Mbagathi hospitals, while those in KNH are disposed by the referral facility.
The family insists that KNH neglected its duty as they had not only reported their kin missing in two police stations in Nairobi, but had also shared details of the 47-year-old with the facility at a time her body was lying in the morgue.
Even then, the family says, the facility went ahead to bury her in a mass grave.
“KNH had my sister’s identity card, which shows the village where she comes from. Why didn’t they use that option of tracing location and contacting the family before arriving at a decision to dispose of her body?” posed Dr Joy Killong, Sabenzia’s sister.
However, KNH chief executive Dr Evans Kamuri said the facility had followed all the rules when it disposed of Ms Killong’s body, four months after her death on December 28 last year.
“The Public Health Act Cap 242, Ministry of Health guidelines and the KNH Farewell Home Policy and Productive Manual provide for burial of unclaimed bodies 21 days from the time of death. In this particular case, the body stayed unclaimed at the funeral home for four months, and was released for burial on April 27, 2021,” Dr Kamuri said in a statement.
While sending condolences to the family, he said the hospital was open to scrutiny.
“While we remain open and invite any further information, at present, all indications are that the hospital followed all due procedures of admission, hospital care, farewell home admissions, and finally burial of this patient. KNH will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities on this matter. We remain committed to providing the best care to all patients,” he added.
Dr Kamuri claimed Ms Killong had no documentation on her.
“Despite our best efforts, we could not trace her next of kin at the time of admission and throughout her treatment,” he said, referring to the eight days Sabenzia was in the facility before she died on December 28.
But the family has disputed the report alleging the deceased did not indicate the next of kin during her admission, saying they have information that she registered the name of her sister-in-law Edith Bera.
“We don’t understand why the hospital has not gone ahead to allege that our sister did not indicate the next of kin. They are just trying to cover up things since they don’t want to be held accountable,” said Dr Killong.
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