In a shocking turn of events in Nakuru, a group of thieves forcibly entered the Nakuru War Memorial Hospital mortuary and made away with the body of a woman.
The deceased had been in the morgue for the past 6 months, accruing a total bill of Sh. 921,000. She had passed away while receiving treatment at the hospital’s ICU. Her body was stolen from the mortuary on Tuesday.
This seemingly adds to the woes surrounding the War Memorial Hospital. The attending matron Ms. Patricia Musale said that she received a call from Umash Funeral Home on Thursday after they received the body. She noted that it had no original burial permit.
Upon suspicion raised by the management, she made further inquiries, only to later receive news that the mortuary had been broken into and the body had gone missing from Nakuru War Memorial.
A layer of complexity was added when Ms Musale was informed that the deceased’s family was spotted at the scene of the crime during the time of the incident.
“It was the only body we had at the facility when the county government forcefully took over the hospital. I was surprised when I was informed that the mortuary had been broken into,” she said.
The deceased’s body had been lying for months at a funeral home, subject to a family tussle on who was going to bury it. A court ruled in favour of the deceased’s children to bury their mother.
However, the body had a huge outstanding bill. One of the deceased’s daughters had agreed to pay half of the morgue bill, while the hospital had agreed to pay the remaining amount.
“I cannot say who broke and stole it. The body had been detained following a family dispute,” clarified Ms Musale.
The matron suggested the possibility of the deceased’s family being involved in the crime. She revealed that the deceased’s daughter had called the mortuary, claiming that they had been threatened to remove the body or else the government would switch off the mortuary machines if they didn’t comply.
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This follows after the Nakuru County Government assumed control of the hospital’s management. The government claims that the ownership documents were forged to obtain a 99-year lease title.
“After breaking into the morgue, the thieves tried to move the body to Nakuru Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary but the management declined, so they later moved it to Umash funeral home.”
