NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 15 – The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has now been called in to conduct a thorough probe into the dismemberment of a body at the Kenyatta National Hospital.
Chief Executive Officer Jotham Micheni said on Wednesday that the management had decided to invite the detectives to determine whether other members of staff were involved in the incident.
“The hospital will move with speed to investigate and make appropriate administrative action befitting this crime,” he said in a statement.
Two men were arrested on Monday as they allegedly attempted to sell male genitals chopped off from a corpse in the hospital’s mortuary.
Dr Micheni confirmed that one of the two men accused of the dehumanising act was one of the hospital’s mortuary attendants.
“The officer committed the crime on the material day when the mortuary manager and her colleagues had gone out for lunch. He has been arraigned in a court of law and charged appropriately,” the statement said.
He further said that staff working in the mortuary would undergo suitability vetting to ensure that incidents of similar nature do not recur.
“We suspect that a crime of this nature must have involved more than one person and therefore we intend to get to the bottom of the matter,” he said.
“More importantly, the hospital will beef up security within the mausoleum premises. This will ensure that both vehicle and human traffic are subjected to security checks,” the CEO added.
Dr Micheni said that following the revelation, the management carried out a comprehensive audit in the mortuary and determined that other bodies were intact.
He said the culprit mutilated only one body that was unidentified and unclaimed that had been scheduled for disposal.
“We wish to inform the public to treat the incident as an isolated criminal act by an individual who had been entrusted with the responsibility of taking care of our deceased patients but due to greed, decided to turn against the dead,” he said.
“KNH management and staff would wish to strongly condemn this act of disrespect to the dead. This act is not only immoral but goes beyond the law of the land and social morals of our society,” he further said.
He said that the disgracing act on the deceased was the only crime of its kind so far reported in the hospital but has helped them understand the social set up better in order to place requisite security measures in all relevant areas of the hospital.
He reiterated that the hospital was committed to provide the appropriate level of care to patients, respect and dignity upholding the highest professional ethics in all transactions.
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