Why 73 unclaimed fetuses at Nakuru Teaching and Referral hospital morgue bear female names

The Nakuru County Referral and Teaching Hospital has appealed to the County Commissioner to help trace relatives of 21 unclaimed adult bodies and 73 unclaimed fetuses that have remained at the hospital mortuary for more than three months.

In a notice dated June 15, 2026, the hospital says the bodies have occupied mortuary space for extended periods, causing congestion, and that some have begun to decompose. The hospital notes that all available avenues to trace next of kin have been exhausted without success.

The facility has given families 21 days to claim the bodies, failing which it will seek legal approval to dispose of them at the Nakuru South Cemetery.

Speaking on the matter, Nakuru County Principal Public Health Officer George Gachomba says the high number of fetuses listed should not be misunderstood, noting that most of them are premature births that did not survive.

He says many of the names appearing on the list belong to mothers rather than the infants themselves because the babies had not lived long enough to be formally named.

“Those names are the mothers' names. If you look at the list, about 95 per cent are ladies' names. Somebody may ask how all the babies were ladies, but those are the mothers' names because the babies had not fully developed,” he says.

Gachomba notes that many of the fetuses were born before reaching maturity, and some died shortly after birth due to complications associated with prematurity.

“In a maternity setting, some babies are born at six months or even earlier. When a baby has not fully developed and is born prematurely, some do not survive,” he says.

He also explains that some of the cases originate from infants found abandoned after being delivered outside hospital settings and later brought in through police intervention.

“You hear of cases where a child is found abandoned in a dumpsite or somewhere else. Some of those cases are also brought to the mortuary, but basically the majority are premature births,” he notes.

According to Gachomba, the accumulation of unclaimed fetuses and bodies is partly due to families failing to collect them despite repeated notifications.

He says while the law allows disposal after three months, hospitals often retain the remains for longer in the hope that relatives will eventually come forward.

“Some of them have stayed since around August. We cannot dispose of them immediately because we expect mothers or relatives to come for them. But after some time, the numbers become unmanageable, and we have to begin the disposal process,” he says.

The public health officer says response to notices involving fetuses is usually minimal, unlike adult bodies, where relatives occasionally come forward after public appeals.

“For the fetuses, we rarely get feedback. For adult bodies, once in a while, one or two families may come and claim their loved ones after seeing the notices,” he says.

Gachomba says the hospital follows a strict legal process before any disposal takes place. The process begins with notifying the County Commissioner, who, in turn, alerts chiefs across the county to help trace families.

He notes that copies of the notice are also shared with the Registrar of Births and Deaths, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Kenya Police Service, and the courts to maximize efforts to locate relatives.

“The County Commissioner writes to chiefs, who then pass the information to communities. Sometimes a chief knows a family that has been looking for a missing relative and advises them to check whether the person is at the mortuary,” he says.

Nakuru's position along the Northern Corridor, he adds, contributes to the number of unclaimed adult bodies, particularly in cases involving travelers who are admitted to hospital following accidents but whose families are unaware of their whereabouts.

Gachomba says that once the notice period expires, the hospital moves to court to obtain a disposal order before conducting a mass burial.

“We are simply following the Public Health Act. After the required notices and efforts to trace relatives, we seek a court order because we cannot keep the bodies forever. Hospitals continue receiving patients every day, and mortuary space is limited,” he says.

The current notice affects 94 unclaimed remains with 21 adult bodies and 73 fetuses whose disposal is expected to proceed if no relatives come forward within the stipulated period.