The Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) 2025 March intake has received an overwhelming application for mortuary science courses.
KMTC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kelly Oluoch disclosed that KMTC received 250 applications against its capacity of 50 slots, highlighting the rising demand for the course.
“We have since expanded to accommodate more students, and today, the number of applicants runs into hundreds,” Kelly Oluoch stated.
The CEO further disclosed that most applicants for the mortuary courses were either sponsored by health facilities or private institutions, while individual applicants found the course more beneficial compared to other related courses.
“These are organizations already offering mortuary services and looking to strengthen their technical capacity. Additionally, individuals seeking to venture into the mortuary business find our program highly beneficial,” he said.
The mortuary science course was launched in 2023 with the first cohort of students set to graduate this year after completing their final qualifying exams.
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The course started at the Nairobi Campus and has since expanded to other campuses across the country with plans to roll out in four more in the coming years.
Students undertaking the course are trained to become morticians to care for the dead or human remains defying the tradition where mortuary attendants were trained informally, often learning on the job in private funeral parlours.
Their duties include processing of dead bodies preservation, embalming, burial or cremation as well as the arrangement of funeral ceremonies.
The program also prepares students to handle the bodies of those who succumb to infectious diseases such as covid 19, ensuring safety and reducing the risks of transmission.
According to KMTC, the minimum entry requirements for the course is at least a secondary school certificate and the duration of training is 3 academic years or 6 semesters.
At the end of the training, the trainees need a specified period of mentorship and licensure before being allowed to practice.
KMTC’s introduction of the mortuary science course was based on findings of a 2018–2021 study by senior lecturers at the University of Nairobi (UoN) and pathologists from Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), which highlighted significant gaps in the training and practice of morticians.
