THE University Teaching Hospital (UTH) has requested the Lusaka City Council (LCC) to bury 29 unclaimed bodies.
LCC public relations manager, George Sichimba said the local authority received a letter from UTH over unclaimed bodies which had been lying in the mortuary for some time.
In a statement issued to the Sun, Mr Sichimba said the bodies had given rise to an unpleasant mortuary environment contrary to they were also causing congestion in the mortuary hence the need to decongest the facility. “Consequently, LCC will cause a public notice in the press about its intention to bury the 29 unclaimed bodies.
“This is in accordance with the provisions of Section 61, Paragraph 41 of the Second Schedule of the Local Government Act Cap 281 of Laws of Zambia,” he said.
Mr Sichimba said in accordance with the law, 14 days would be assigned in the notice for members of the public to claim/identify any of the bodies and conduct burial adding that, at the expiry of the assigned period, all the bodies which will not have been claimed would be buried.
He said that this would be the first time in 2019 that the Council would be burying unclaimed bodies from UTH whose exercise was expected to cost K50, 000.
Last year the local authority buried 126 unclaimed bodies costing over K200, 000.
