Ugandans turn to Kenyan mortuaries for embalming
Individuals wait to pick dead bodies of loved ones at St Francis Funeral Home in Busia County, Kenya January 19, 2024. PHOTO/DAVID AWORI
What you need to know:
- Busia operates two mortuaries, including one at Masafu Hospital and Busia Health Centre IV, which both can accommodate 15 dead bodies at a go.
- Mr Phabiano Nyiringango, a trader in Busia Town, who recently lost a family member at Masafu Hospital, said: “The mortuary there is a small room where dead bodies are packed like firewood.”
Ugandan nationals are taking bodies of the dead to mortuaries in Kenya due to the lack of well-equipped facilities in Busia, Namayingo, Bugiri and Tororo districts.
Mr Charles Itogot, a resident of Busuwu Village, Sikuda Sub-county, who recently lost a mother, said: “The mortuaries in Masafu Hospital and Busia Health Centre IV lacked space and preservatives. So we went to St Francis Funeral Home in neighbouring Kenya.”
“I think the culture of Kenyans of having to preserve their departed ones for a week or two before burying is partly why they have better facilities,” he added last Friday.
This, he said, is in sharp contrast with some communities in Uganda, where dead bodies are kept in houses, while meetings are convened to plan for where the deceased will be buried.
Busia operates two mortuaries, including one at Masafu Hospital and Busia Health Centre IV, which both can accommodate 15 dead bodies at a go.
Mr Phabiano Nyiringango, a trader in Busia Town, who recently lost a family member at Masafu Hospital, said: “The mortuary there is a small room where dead bodies are packed like firewood.”
In addition, he said the mortuary lacks a cold room, with attendants routinely running out of formalin, a disinfectant and preservative in funeral homes and medical laboratories.
Dr Matthias Wabwire Panyako, the Busia District health officer, said the Ministry of Health stipulates that each mortuary should have cold rooms, enough space and qualified staff.
He, however, said both mortuaries in the district lack cold rooms and are housed in small, box-like facilities.
“Due to the lack of cold rooms, we only have an option of preserving bodies using formalin,” Dr Wabwire said.
But sources at Masafu Hospital and Busia Health Centre IV said the facilities currently lack formalin.
“We have no formalin in stock and have to tell relatives who bring their departed ones for preservation to pay Shs70,000 for procuring it from Kenya,” sources said.
At the Busia border, each day, bodies are either taken across Kenya through porous borders, or the main border, according to Mr Moses Ouma, a driver of an ambulance.
“Each week, I take more than four dead bodies to funeral homes in Kenya for preservation,” he said, adding that the main destinations are St Francis Funeral Home-Tanaka and Alupe University mortuary.
Mr Ouma said at Busia County Referral Hospital and Alupe University Hospital, Ugandans pay twice the amount Kenyans pay to preserve bodies (KShs4,000, about Shs96,000).
Ms Roselyn Barasa, the director of the Funeral Home, said her facility, opened last year, was receiving “not less than 50 bodies from Uganda every month’’.
