Sakaja's City Mortuary refurbishment plan stalls as county relies on untrained morticians

Sometime in 2023, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja announced plans to upgrade the City Mortuary, aiming to improve services and restore dignity to both the deceased and their families.

Sakaja said the plan, including renaming the facility to The Nairobi Funeral Home, was meant to ensure that the bereaved families are treated with respect.

However, this vision remains unfulfilled, if reports by the Nairobi County Assembly Health Committee during its grilling of Executive members are anything to go by.

The Committee, chaired by Mountain View MCA Maurice Ochieng, had invited Health CEC Suzanne Silantoi and Public Health Chief Officer Tom Nyakaba to shed light on various issues affecting the sector.

However, during a heated debate, a committee member revealed a critical challenge facing public facilities with morgues in the city, a severe shortage of morticians.

Woodely MCA Davidson Ngibuini noted that during the county’s mass recruitment of specialists last year, only one mortician was hired, forcing some facilities to rely on casual morticians.

In response, the CEC shifted the blame to the recruitment board, saying it was their responsibility to ensure balanced hiring.

“There aren’t enough morticians in public hospitals because the health department didn’t push for their recruitment,” Ngibuini said.

He added, “Right now, services are being provided by casual morticians, yet we approve the budget. Every Level Five hospital should have enough morticians to serve city residents effectively and at a fair rate, but that’s not the case.”

A mortician, who spoke to The Nairobian on condition of anonymity, revealed that those employed by the county government are often overworked.

“Employability of morticians is often a major issue because many people don’t see the value of what we do,” the expert explained. “In some cases, a referral hospital may have only three morticians. For instance, Nairobi Funeral Home uses untrained morticians, as long as they can handle bodies.”

He noted that Nairobi County has fewer than ten professional morticians on its payroll, despite the need for at least four morticians in every hospital with a morgue.

A mortician’s role, he said, typically involves embalming, dressing bodies, assisting bereaved families during viewings, and sometimes supporting postmortem procedures.

“But most public morgues don’t prioritize embalming.

They focus mainly on handling the bodies. In fact, anyone who can dress a body is often considered for the job by the county, even if they aren’t qualified,” he added.

He pointed out, “The county uses untrained morticians under the guise of offering attachments, opportunities that should be reserved for trained personnel to acquire proper skills. That’s how they end up working there, because the county doesn’t pay them.”

According to the expert, these unqualified morticians charge bereaved families around Sh3,000 to help trace and view bodies, tasks that should be handled by professionals.

“It’s disturbing that the county doesn’t see the need to employ morticians on contract or permanent terms. As a result, the quality of service is poor, and the public is left vulnerable to extortion,” he claimed.