Kenyatta National Hospital is in the news again for the wrong reasons for alleged negligence in the death of a woman involved in a road accident.
The woman’s daughter emotionally narrated how she fears for her life after reporting the negligence following her mum’s death as she waited for a bed in the ICU.
Her mother suffered serious head injuries after being knocked down by a motorbike as returned from night prayers.
After being rushed to KNH she could not be admitted to the ICU for lack of a bed. She died on Tuesday.
“We pleaded with doctors, but they said there was no space,” the daughter said.
She accused one of the doctors of being rude. She said the doctor said her mother had a 50/50 chance of living but did nothing to save her life.
Desperate pleas by the woman to nurses and doctors to transfer her mother fell on deaf ears.
The woman said nurses refused to allow her into the ward, despite her mother’s critical condition.
“They called me in the morning and told me to go and pick my mum’s body. That is an unprofessional way to break such news,” she added.
But in a statement, KNH denied the patient died of negligence.
The hospital said Hanna Njoki, 68, was received in the emergency unit on August 25, with severe head injuries.
“Unfortunately, there was no bed in the ICU. The patient was admitted to ward 5B and treated as she waited for a bed in the ICU,” reads the statement.
The hospital said it regretted the patient’s death.
KNH said they have only 31 ICU beds, which were occupied by critically ill patients.
On February 19, there was a brain surgery mix-up for two men at the hospital. Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki sent KNH chief executive officer Lily Koros, her deputy and the Director of Clinical Services on compulsory leave to allow investigations.
Members of Parliament recommended that KNH compensates Samuel Kimani and John Nderitu for the error. In January, there were claims of breastfeeding mothers being raped by morgue attendants at the hospital. KNH denied the claims.