“I came to Kenyatta at 8am. We queued for a long time we were told there are no doctors working and that we should come back after three weeks,” Peter Odindo said/SAM WANJOHI
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 7 – The crisis at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) deepened Wednesday as patients were turned away without getting the required treatment.
A few who spoke to Capital FM News said they underwent the process of registration at the entrance only to be turned away later as there were no doctors to attend to them.
“They had sent for the specialist who deals with the spiinal cord and the brain and he has not come,” Sam Omondi who had brought his relative to the hospital told us.
“I was here by 6am. So I took my daughter for a scan but they told me to come back after the doctors announce their return, Benson Mwai who had brought his daughter there said.
They said that they had not been attended to since 8am and they gave up after a while since they were forced to look for alternative institutions for treatment.
“I came to Kenyatta at 8am. We queued for a long time we were told there are no doctors working and that we should come back after three weeks,” Peter Odindo said.
“The problem I encountered is that I was admitted in the ward and when you go there, there is another doctor who is discharging you and that is really making me sad and frustrated,” Andrew Muchemi stated.
The KNH Board was holding a closed-door meeting and was expected to issue a comprehensive statement on the recent brain surgery mix up and the internal audit of the events leading up to it later on.
In the meantime, registrar doctors at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) and the Mathare Hospital have also downed their tools as the health crisis in the institutions continue to worsen.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Secretary General Ouma Oluga told Capital FM News that like their colleagues at KNH, the medics cannot work without their supervisors who are on strike.
He said they will not resume work until the surgery mix up is sorted out.
On Tuesday, nurses downed their tools, complaining of mistreatment following the brain surgery mix-up.
The hospital in the meantime has appointed an audit firm to investigate the events that led up to the brain surgery mix up.
In a statement, the hospital’s Board of Management stated that it takes “any allegations of negligence very seriously and mandated the firm to give an independent and authoritative position on the matter and together with a comprehensive report.”
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