Morgue Orders Families To Collect Bodies Of Relatives Within 2 Days Due To Extended Blackout

• Relatives whose kin are lying at the Mtendere Mission Hospital mortuary have 48 hours to collect the bodies
• The morgue can no longer preserve them effectively due to extended blackout periods
• The standby generator, which served the facility during power outages, is faulty and yet to be fixed

Mtendere Mission Hospital announced that its mortuary will no longer store bodies for more than two days due to a faulty standby generator.

The issue comes at a critical time when the country has been experiencing extended power blackouts lasting up to 22 hours daily.

Why can't Mtendere Mission Hospital use generator?

Hospital Acting Administrator Benjamin Kazule issued a public notice informing the community about the malfunctioning generator.

Mwebantu reports that the hospital’s mortuary, which relies on the generator during power outages, can no longer function properly.

"Bereaved families are hereby urged to collect bodies of their beloved ones two days after depositing them in the hospital mortuary," he said.

Kazule asked the relatives to make swift burial arrangements or find alternative mortuaries.

Social media reactions

He regretted the inconvenience and urged families to plan accordingly as the load-shedding crisis impacts essential services.

The situation has added another layer of complexity for grieving families, who now must act quickly to bury their loved ones.

Residents have expressed concern over the urgency of the situation, especially given the cultural and logistical challenges of rapid burials.

Chichi Kandulo:

"This is really sad. I think clinics and hospitals really need power supply. Even medicine that needs to be refrigerated is going bad."

Joseph Banda:

"Electricity should be a priority in hospitals, and the government should work on finding better alternatives due to such effects."

Mumba Peter:

"The electricity situation in this country should be declared a national disaster. In my area, we only have electricity for 30 minutes in two days."

The hospital management promised to work towards addressing the issue, but no immediate solution has been announced.

Kenya Power apologises over nationwide blackout

Meanwhile, Kenyans experienced a nationwide power outage on the evening of Thursday, May 2, prompting widespread lamentation.

Kenya Power confirmed the outage, attributing it to a "system disturbance on the grid," and apologised for the inconvenience.

The blackout occurred amidst warnings about potential interruptions due to heavy rains, which could damage the electricity supply infrastructure.

Proofreading by Otukho Jackson, a multimedia journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke