Kiambu Level 5 Hospital on the Spot over Mysterious Death of 50 Babies in 2 Months

Kiambu Level 5 Hospital is on the spot following the mysterious deaths of 60 infants at the facility in the last two months.

Mothers have accused health workers at the county's biggest medical facility of negligence leading to the death of newborn babies.

Kiambu County Health executive Mary Kamau has confirmed the deaths but has defended the hospital against allegations of negligence.

Ms. Kamau says that most of the infants who have passed away were pre-term babies and stood little chances of surviving.

“In the two months of December 2018 and January 2019, Kiambu Hospital conducted 1,703 deliveries. We had a total of 60 neonatal deaths out of which 35 were pre-term babies weighing less than 1.5 kilograms,” she explains.

“About 50 percent of the pre-term cases were referrals from neighboring private, faith-based and other public facilities. The survival rate for severe pre-term babies is very low worldwide."

“It is worth noting that Kiambu County has an average neonatal mortality rate of 15 per 1,000 live births compared to the national average of 22 to 1000 live births,” she argues.

The facility's superintendent Dr. Jesse Ngugi has also defended the deaths saying his staff is not to blame.

“We usually request for consent because we want the relatives to know that there are some risks … wound infection is a known risk after a cesarean section, and I cannot say it is as a result of any technicality used in the procedure,” Ngugi notes.

“The deaths can be explained because we do a mortality and morbidity audit for every death that happens in the newborn unit. That is to make sure we have continuous improvement in the quality of care we provide to patients,” Ngugi adds.

Relatives of mothers who lost their babies say the hospital didn't bother to explain the cause of the deaths.

Joseph Mureithi says he took his wife to the hospital after she developed complications during pregnancy.

The hospital asked him to have an X-ray at a different facility because its machine had broken down.

 “I had no choice but to pay Sh3,000 for the services elsewhere,” Mureithi says.

They returned to Kiambu hospital and his wife was admitted. Two days later, she underwent an operation to deliver a 2.7kgs baby boy.

Mureithi left the hospital for home after the baby was taken to an incubator but before he reached home, he received a call and was informed the baby had died.

“I felt bad because it was my second child to die at the Kiambu Level 5 Hospital after being born. I don’t know why this is happening because the hospital is not explaining,” Mureithi says.