By 
The Lusaka City Council (LCC) says it has buried 52 unclaimed bodies at its established Chingwere Cemetery from January 2023 to date.
About 32 of the unclaimed bodies were buried in March while 20 were buried in May 2023, LCC Public Relations, Nyambe Bulumba, said.
Bulumba in a statement issued in Lusaka on Thursday said as prescribed by Law, LCC published a notice in the press about its intention to bury the bodies following a request from the University Teaching Hospital (UTH).
“According to the letter from UTH, the unclaimed bodies had been laying in the mortuary for some time, giving rise to an unpleasant mortuary environment contrary to the Public Health Act Cap 295 of the Laws of Zambia,” he said.
Bulumba said the bodies also caused congestion in the mortuary hence the need to bury them.
He noted that this was done by the provisions of Section 16 (2), Paragraph 7, Sub-paragraph b of the First Schedule of the Local Government Act No. 2 of 2019 of the Laws of Zambia.
“As provided for by the law, 14 days were allocated for in the notice for members of the general public to claim or identify any of the bodies and conduct burial,” Bulumba said.
He said at the expiry of the assigned period, no claim was made to any of the bodies hence the action by the council to bury them.
Bulumba said the Local Authority was yet to bury 65 more bodies following a request from the UTH and that notice had since been published in the media for members of the public to come forward and claim or identify any of the bodies.
WARNING! All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express permission from ZAMBIA MONITOR.
Comments