James Muiruri, the man captured in a viral video on Monday wailing while holding the body of his grandson and blaming health officials for negligence, is a troubled and angry man because he believes the death could have been avoided.
His 10-month-old grandson, also named James Muiruri after him, died at Igegania Level Four Hospital in Gatundu North, Kiambu County.
“There is money for our politicians to fly choppers but there is no medicine in hospitals and the doctors are on strike. God, when will you end the world? We are tired of suffering,” Mr Muiruri says.
We arrived at his home as villagers took Mr Muiruri to Mangu Dispensary, a Catholic-owned health facility that serves area residents, as the doctors’ strike enters its second week in Kiambu County.
We followed him into the dispensary, where his family told the medics that since the death of his grandson, Mr Muiruri hasn’t slept or eaten.
“He has been wailing, looks troubled and is struggling with hallucinations,” the family tells the medics.
Baby James Muiruri.
Photo credit: Simon Ciuri | Nation Media Group
Mr Muiruri tells the Nation that his grandson got sick on Sunday afternoon and on Monday, he was rushed to the county hospital by his mother, Regina Wanjiku, 32.
“We arrived at Igegania Level Four Hospital mid-morning and we were informed that the doctors were on strike. The few volunteers who were there put young Muiruri on a nebuliser. They said his chest had clogged and he had difficulty breathing. They requested that we take him to St Mulumba Hospital in Thika, given his condition was deteriorating,” Mr Muiruri says.
They agreed, but immediately faced another hurdle.
“They asked us to show commitment that we were able to pay Sh20,000 for admission, but we could not afford that amount. It was at this point that we told the hospital that we had agreed to take Muiruri to Maragua Hospital in Murang’a County, since the doctors there are not on strike,” he explains.
A distraught James Muiruri with relatives at Mangu Dispensary on May 28, 2025.
Photo credit: Simon Ciuri | Nation Media Group
Their third and fourth problems then arose: how to get to the Murang’a hospital and whether they would be allowed to do so.
“The health officials at Igegania Hospital refused, saying an ambulance from Kiambu cannot take a patient to another county. They even refused to allow us to take him to Maragua using private means,” Mr Muiruri says. “Two hours later, my grandson died.”
The family says it is devastated by the death and blames the county government for doing nothing to improve the state of healthcare in Kiambu and, especially, for failing to avert the doctors’ strike.
Investigations into baby's death
10-month-old grandson, also named James Muiruri after him, died at Igegania Level Four Hospital in Gatundu North, Kiambu County.
Photo credit: Simon Ciuri | Nation Media Group
On Wednesday, the county government, through its Health Executive Elias Mbau, said it has commenced investigations into the death of young Muiruri, even as it announced the firing of striking doctors.
There was, however, no evidence, by the time of going to press, that the striking doctors—who have been on a go-slow for nearly two weeks and officially began their strike on Monday this week—had been fired.
Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union Chairman Abidan Mwachi told reporters on Monday that doctors in Kiambu will only be attending to emergency cases. He cited inaction by the county government on matters regarding doctors’ welfare, including lack of a medical cover, job group stagnation, arbitrary transfers, denied leave, threats and intimidation as reasons for the strike.
On Wednesday, the union’s Central Branch Chairman, Dr James Githinji, told the Nation that the doctors will continue with the strike because the county government has for years ignored legitimate concerns, and is now threatening the striking doctors.
“We have numerous cases of doctors getting sick and going to hospitals, only to be turned back and forced to pay in cash because Kiambu County has not remitted or paid for their medical insurance. Doctors are going for months without salaries. They are overworked because Kiambu has few doctors to serve the big population, but the leadership of the county does not want to come to the negotiating table,” Dr Githinji said.
“We have decided to stay at home and we won’t go to the streets. Kenyans are clever enough to see that doctors in this country have the goodwill to serve them, but they also have responsibilities to meet,” he went.
Earlier, the county government had moved to court to secure an order to stop the strike but lost the application.
