A critically ill Kenyan man, who collapsed in his house and was rushed to hospital, shocked morgue attendants after he regained consciousness as they prepared to embalm him.
Peter Kigen, 32, was presumed dead on Tuesday by staff at Kapkatet hospital, in Kericho county, and transferred to the morgue, according to local media.
His younger brother who took Mr Kigen to hospital is quoted by the Standard newspaper as saying that a nurse had told him the patient had died before they arrived at the casualty department.
But the hospital’s superintendent, Gilbert Cheruiyot, told journalists that the patient’s relatives had not waited for a certification of death and had moved him to the morgue on their own.
The patient, reported to suffer a chronic illness, told journalists he was “happy to be alive and vowed to dedicate his life to evangelism”.
Local channel Citizen TV shared a video of the patient’s Swahili address to journalists
A number of Kenyans have reacted to the situation criticizing the act of taking bodies to morgues without further approvals.
Some of their comments were as follows:
@SautiOfKenya
Why do Kenyan mortuaries accept and store bodies without a death certificate? I’m assuming the morgue has no refrigeration facilities otherwise he would have simply frozen to death in there.
@SankeiSaitoti
so in Kapkatet the dead are taken to the morgue by the relatives? the head of the hospital is giving the most bizarre explanation as what really happened.