Margaret Waithira (pictured)from Mathioya Murang’a is seeking for government’s intervention to have the body of her husband which has been lying in the morgue for over two years released. 

Waithira said her husband died in October 2022 but they have not been able to bury her after the hospital where he was being treated declined to release the body until they clear the bill. 

Waithira said the husband had been admitted in a private facility in Nairobi South C for slightly over a month where he spent some days in the ICU before his death. 

She said the bill had accumulated to Sh1.8 million and they only managed to raise Sh600,000  through fundraisers and selling few assets they had. 

Payment plan 

“He added been admitted to the facility with breathing problems which saw him taken to the ICU a number of times but he eventually died leaving a huge bill which we have not been able to settle to date,” said Waithira. 

“ We did several fund drives but the money we got was barely enough to meet half the bill, ”she added. 

She said their efforts to negotiate with the facility to have a payment plan have been futile adding that every time they go there they are told to first surrender a certain amount of money which is usually beyond their capability. 

“Every time we went to the hospital for negotiations we were told to bring money which we cannot afford,” she added. 

Waithira said the family is financially drained as they had earlier settled a bill of Sh1.5 million in a different facility where the man had been admitted. 

She said not being able to bury their kin has taken a toll on their family thus the cry for help to have the body released. 

“The thought of his body lying in the mortuary for this long is torturous but we are now helpless because we cannot raise the money required,” she added. 

“Towards the end of last year, the morgue bill had accumulated to Sh500,000 which we will also be required to pay,” said Waithira. 

She is now appealing to the government and well-wishers to come to their rescue so that they can have the body released. 

“Our minds will only be settled when we get the body and bury him because the is the custom. It’s what other people do,” added Waithira.