A postmortem that was to be conducted on the body of Caroline Mwatha was again delayed on Thursday morning.
City Mortuary attendants who have been on strike kept off the facility, prompting Chief Government pathologist, Dr Johansen Oduor, to moot the possibility of transferring Ms Mwatha’s body to another equipped centre.
Ms Mwatha, an activist, died in unclear circumstances, and her body was found dumped at the City Mortuary on Tuesday after friends and relatives searched for her for several days.
The autopsy was initially scheduled for Wednesday, February 13, but did not take place because Dr. Oduor was not available.
The chief pathologist, however, made himself available for the exercise on Thursday morning only to find that morgue attendants had downed their tools.
“Dr Oduor is contemplating moving Ms Mwatha’s body to another morgue, where the exercise can uninterruptedly go on.
“So far, Ms Mwatha’s family members have arrived at City morgue. We are only waiting for Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU) representative and Homicide Detectives to arrive before the autopsy is conducted,” he said.
Body reception and registry services were however still available at the mortuary.
“The services, which have been paralysed since Monday include pathology, body identification, embalmment, cleaning of the facility and preparation of bodies for autopsy,” said Mr Mugambi, “Dr Oduor, given his rank, wouldn’t personally prepare a body for postmortem.”
Ms Mwatha, a Dandora-based activist, went missing on February 6, 2019.
When her body was discovered, police claimed that she had died from a botched abortion.
Her family however refuted the allegation saying they had never seen their daughter pregnant.
At least six people, including Ms Mwatha’s alleged lover and ‘quack’ doctor, who apparently conducted the abortion, have been arrested.