Edward “Eddy” Onyango Otieno lay helpless on the cold tiled floor at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital for more than two hours.
He had fallen off a wheelchair less than two metres from the nurse’s desk, but, in spite of his pleas for help, nurses in the emergency unit passed him without paying any attention to him.
The 41-year-old had been taken to the hospital by the police close to 11pm after an accident on Kangundo Road — not far from the county referral hospital — minutes after 10.30pm on September 11.
He had been wheeled into the emergency unit of the hospital after he regained consciousness at the back of the police truck while being rushed to the hospital. Police officers had found him unconscious on the road. Earlier, he was a passenger on a motorbike.
“I do not know where I am. I have been brought here after an accident,” were the last words the information technology expert told his mother, probably before falling off the wheelchair. That was a quarter to midnight. He had managed to place the call to his mother using the phone of a woman later identified as Pauline Mirinda at the emergency unit.
“I had already gone to bed when I saw a stranger calling. The person on the other side, a police officer, told me (Eddy) had been hit by a lorry on Kangundo Road and I should rush to Mama Lucy if I wanted him to be attended to because the nurses will not (treat him) without a relative around,” narrated an emotional Ms Ruth Atieno, Eddy’s mother.
She quickly called her younger sister, Prof Emily Rogena, who lives in Ruai, informing her about Eddy’s accident. Together with her husband, Prof Rogena rushed to the hospital.
“I told her to rush there and told her thank you. I know my son will be well. I did not know …,” overwhelmed with grief, Ms Atieno could not proceed with her narration yesterday, when she appeared before the Senate Committee on Health.
Eddy died in his aunt’s arms. Prof Rogena, a doctor herself, had rushed to the hospital to try and save his life.
“My nephew gasped in my hands and died at the door of a St John’s Ambulance. Kenyatta University Teaching Referral, and Research Hospital was the destination that was not to be,” said Prof Rogena.
She had found her nephew pallid, his right eye shut, the eyelid dark. He was lying on the cold floor, his shirt ripped off, jeans partly pulled down and shoes off.
“We immediately covered him with a shawl and asked him a few questions but he could only say ‘pain, pain, stress’. A cleaner came by with a mop and cleaned around him as he lay on the floor,” she recalled.
Close by, in the stitching room, two young doctors were stitching two patients with fresh open wounds.
“When we got into the room, one of the doctors recognised me because he is a former student of mine. He quickly abandoned what he was doing and rushed to help us. We struggled to locate his (Eddy’s) pulse and, all the while, no nurse came to help, but they just stood at their desk watching,” she said.
Nonetheless, being a senior doctor herself, she could not lose hope. Together with Eddy’s wife, Eunice Wandeto, and her husband, Prof Rogena managed to reach St John’s Ambulance.
“As we tried to put him in the ambulance, I noticed Eddy’s eyes roll back, and he was gasping. We quickly placed him in and started the resuscitation that was not to be as the ambulance had an ambubag (ventilation bag) that could not fit the nozzle from the oxygen tank,” Prof Rogena narrated.
She ran back to the emergency unit to get a resuscitation tray, but she found none. No adrenaline. No mouthpieces. No laryngoscopes, and still no help from the nurses.
“The same nurses stood at their desk and appeared to have nothing to do with whatever was happening to Eddy. Eddy was certified dead at around 2am on September 12,” Prof Rogena said, breaking down.
He had been taken to the hospital about 11pm on September 11 but was now leaving a lifeless body, which was taken to Kenyatta University Funeral home.
“A post-mortem conducted by Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor revealed that Eddy had lost up to 1.5 litres of blood in the soft tissues and had a fracture of the skull, after bleeding for three hours,” she said, concluding her testimony.
Senators called for the temporary closure of Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, accusing the staff of negligence.
“Clearly, there is a big problem at Mama Lucy and we cannot be sitting here hearing the same stories. We cannot continue losing lives in the name of offering services. Even if it means closing down the facility, then so be it. Mama Lucy has turned into a death chamber,” said Nominated Senator Raphael Chimera.
Kitui Senator Enock Wambua asked the committee to make far-reaching recommendations that would see the hospital temporarily closed to allow for functional systems to be put in place.
“These are lives that would have been saved. We must crack the whip and do whatever must be done even if it means closing the hospital. We have an opportunity to put things right at the hospital to send a warning to other health facilities about the dignity of human life,” he said.
Murang’a Senator Joe Nyutu called for the committee to recommend for the medics to take individual responsibility for negligence.
“This is a serious case of negligence. This death could have been avoided had the people in charge acted with speed and professionalism,” said Mr Nyutu.
“I am deeply embarrassed to continue hearing such cases. Facilities meant to enhance people’s lives have now turned into death chambers. Something has to be done,” said Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna.
Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital in Nairobi on December 22, 2020.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
“We must review the qualifications of every person working at Mama Lucy as these horror stories cannot simply continue,” he added.
Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago, the committee’s chairperson, pledged to lead a thorough investigation into the hospital.
“No one should lose their life while giving another life. We are here to ensure such occurrences don’t happen again,” he said.
The committee will invite nurses from Kiambu Level Five Hospital to tell the committee in what condition they received Maureen Onyango, who died at the hospital.
Officials from Nairobi County will also be invited to shed light on how Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital operates and why the doctors referred a patient to Kiambu and not the Kenyatta National Hospital.
