LCC cries over huge burial bill for unclaimed bodies

THE Lusaka City Council (LCC) has disclosed that K106, 590.42 has been spent to bury 276 unclaimed bodies from the University Teaching Hospital and urged the public to care for their loved ones after they die.

LCC assistant public relations manager Brenda Katongola said the local authority together with UTH buried 203 unclaimed bodies at Chingwere Cemetery last year at a cost of K74, 862.28

Ms Katongola added that 73 unclaimed bodies were disposed of in the first quarter of this year at a cost of K31,728.14.

“The average cost per disposal of 50 bodies amounts to K19, 203.07 this is very costly as compared to how much relatives can spend if they buried their loved ones,” Ms Katongola said.

She said the public must ensure that they came back for their dead relatives after leaving them at the hospital so that the local authority could channel money to other projects.

Meanwhile, UTH public relations manager Natalie Mashikolo said in an interview that the bodies included those of males, children and female of different age groups.

Ms Mashikolo said the country’s biggest hospital encountered situations every year where the next of kin to the deceased were unwilling or unable to pay for burial services and sometimes could not be reached.

She said there was no nationwide standard for what happened next after bodies accumulated in the mortuary which was why the hospital had to cooperate with the local authority and bury the unidentified bodies despite the exercise being costly.

She said there was need to have a deliberate policy which would allow local authorities to have city mortuaries in a bid to decongest the hospitals that might be having the same challenges.

She said the hospital could only keep the bodies for three months after which they must be disposed of because of the odour and lack of space.

She said people must take keen interest in checking for their missing and deceased relatives at the hospital.

She also said relatives and well-wishers who brought the bodies to UTH must stop giving false addresses and phone numbers as this was a major complication.