Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja on Thursday, April 6, announced plans to set up a private wing at the City Mortuary to cater to a wealthy clientele.
In a statement, the county government noted that the county would start by repairing broken coolers to increase capacity.
City Mortuary, which is situated at the junction of Ngong’ Road and Raila Odinga Road and is the oldest mortuary in Nairobi County, will be well-equipped to handle 24 bodies in its private wing.
The county noted that it was readying to host the launch in a span of 45 days.
“City mortuary is the largest government-owned mortuary facility in East and Central Africa and currently has six functional coolers with a capacity to store 200 bodies. In the next 45 days, we intend to unveil a private wing that will be able to hold 24 bodies.
“The wing will provide hearse and other related lowering gear service,” noted Tom Nyakaba, the Chief Officer of Public Health in Nairobi County.
With the upgrade, the county aims to compete with the likes of Lee Funeral Home and Montezuma Monalisa Funeral Homes, Chiromo Funeral Parlour run by the University of Nairobi, and Kenyatta University Funeral Home.
“Restoring dignity to our dearly departed and their families by improving the City Mortuary as well as our cemeteries,” added Sakaja noting that works were still ongoing.
Nyakaba, in his statement, confirmed that the county government had already engaged a contractor to ensure all coolers are repaired and restored.
The Nairobi Health Chief Officer also noted that the facility will hire five customer service officers.
Additional security will also be deployed to secure the facility whose officers will be increased from 6 to 10.
Nyakaba added that the 67-year-old mortuary will have a chapel with a chaplain where families can hold funeral services if they lack a religious facility.
City Mortuary has been facing hard times and was dealing with a pile-up of uncollected bodies.
Governor Sakaja has been improving city services including the recent unveiling of new street cleaning and garbage collection vehicles.
