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Kenya: Court to Rule On Kenyatta Hospital Burial Row

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5 years ago

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A Nairobi court will on Monday hear a case filed by a family seeking the exhumation of a 47-year-old woman who was buried by Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) last month without notifying them.

The family wants to be allowed to exhume the body of Sabenzia Chepkesis Killong, who was admitted to KNH in December, died eight days later on December 28 and was buried by the referral facility in an unmarked grave at the Lang’ata Cemetery.

The family of Ms Killong also wants an autopsy done to establish the cause of death. Thereafter, they want the court to allow them to re-bury their kin at Ndalu location, Tongaren Constituency, in Bungoma County.

“Upon considering the application, it is hereby ordered that the application is certified urgent and that the application be served for inter partes hearing on May 17, before Hon Kivuti,” Senior Principal Magistrate D W Mburu of the Milimani Commercial Magistrate Court ordered.

Ms Killong’s family insists that KNH neglected its duty as they had not only reported their kin missing at two police stations in Nairobi, but had also shared details of the 47-year-old with the referral facility at a time Ms Killong’s body was lying in the morgue.

The hospital, however, says it followed all Ministry of Health rules under the Public Health Act Cap 242 of the Laws of Kenya. The law recommends that a body should be removed from the mortuary within two weeks and thereafter disposed off.

“Despite our best efforts, we could not trace Sabenzia’s next of kin at the time of admission and throughout her treatment,” Dr Evans Kamuri, the KNH chief executive, said in a statement recently.