A woman on Wednesday carried the body of her baby for about 5km to a mortuary because officials at a city hospital where the boy died could not help transport it.
Immaculate Auma had to undergo the agonising journey from Mbagathi Hospital, where her six-month-old baby died yesterday morning, to a police post at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), where she was required to file a notification.
The grieving mother then, cradling the lifeless body, had to walk again to City Mortuary, where attendants kept her waiting for hours.Auma and her mother Linet Atieno sat on the cold concrete bench at the mortuary for more than three hours, holding the corpse in turns, as they waited to be attended to.They could not afford to take the body to a private mortuary.
Auma first took her son to Shofco Health Centre in Kibra on Tuesday after she realised he had fever on Monday evening. He was diagnosed with pneumonia.“He was breathing heavily, and even though I bought some of the drugs that were prescribed, there was not much improvement,” Auma said.
She was advised to take the child to Mbagathi Hospital on Wednesday morning after his condition worsened. He died while being attended to.