‘Let’s take care of our unclaimed dead relatives’

SOME Lusaka residents have appealed to the public to be cautious each time their family member went missing.

Ms Hilda Chisanga said the exercise of burying unclaimed bodies by Lusaka City Council (LCC) was making the local authority lose a lot of money because relatives were not willing to come forthwith.

Ms Chisanga said, although it was the mandate of the council to bury unclaimed bodies, it was imperative that relatives of the deceased took part by searching for their missing ones.

“The exercise has become costly for the local authority when burying unclaimed bodies and some relatives were not willing to help the situation even when they know that their relative could be among the unclaimed bodies,” said Ms Chisanga.

Another resident, Mr Bernard Chikwanda said it was not fair that some people who had been missing their relatives did not bother to search for them for fear of funeral expenses.

On Sunday LCC received a request from the University Teaching Hospitals to bury about 29 unclaimed bodies that were in the institution as they needed to be buried because they were an unpleasant to the mortuary environment which is contrary to the Public Health Act Cap 295 of the Laws of Zambia.

Mr Sichimba said the bodies have also caused congestion in the mortuary, hence the need to decongest the facility.