A couple in Matiliku sub-county, Makueni is seeking justice for their child after she passed on in Matiliku Subcounty hospital on Thursday, March 10th. The baby’s parents, Shadrack Kithome and Carol Kithomealleged that the one-year-old died due to negligence by the hospital staff.
“I lost my baby yesterday in the evening and I want to say that had the nurses attended to my baby in time, she won’t have died. We got to the ward and the baby had a fever. When I called the nurses on duty, they send me back to our bed and told me to take her temperature,” Carol said.
Hopeless, the mother said she got back to her ailing baby and upon taking her temperature, it was 40 degrees and she took the readings back to the nurses.
However, according to Carol, the nurses didn’t take any action and only send her back to her bed. She went again back to the nurses and this time the nurses administered a drug to the baby and left.
“We spend the night at the ward where my baby had a fever but she wasn’t attended to until dawn when I told the nurses again that my baby’s condition was worsening but they didn’t seem to care,” said Carol amid tears.
Carol said that on Thursday noon, the baby was referred to Makueni County Level 5 hospital, in Wote. However, about 2 hours later, the baby died while in an ambulance on the way to Wote.
“When I visited my daughter and her mother in hospital at around 1 pm on Thursday, I found them in the ward and they were not yet attended to despite the baby’s fever being so high. I regret sending them here because if the nurses didn’t neglect the baby, she would still be alive,” the father told journalists.
However, speaking to journalists on Friday, March 11, Natasha Uchi, the Medical Supretendant Matiliku hospital, disputed baby Mitchell Kithome’s parents’ claim noting that they didn’t abandon the baby and her mother as alleged.
Natasha claimed that despite public hospitals having challenges that may slow down their attendance to their patients; they tried their best to attend the patient to their level best before referring her to Wote.
The medic also said the parents had interfered with the baby’s gums which led to severe bleeding, making the late have difficulty in breathing since it had choked her.
“We attended to the baby who had other underlying conditions inflicted by the parents. We put her on oxygen and administered antibiotics to her. We however observed that she needed further attention and referred her to Makueni County Level 5 Hospital but unfortunately she died on the way,” Natasha stated.
