AN EXCLUSIVE one mama’s story
Where I have
reached, I thought I was not going to recover my shattered heart, but the
stories that am receiving, as heart wrenching as they are, are the fuel that
keeps me going!
So, apparently
the hospitals are not just ill-equipped, the price goes to their facilities.
Imagine a maternity without an ICU. Okey, that may not be a big issue. Now, I
want you to imagine Nairobi Women’s
Hospital without an ICU section!!
If you have been
following the stories, you might have realized by now that there is a certain
trend going on in there. If you haven’t, then be patient because after reading
the below breakdown from a mother who lost her baby in that hospital, and what
shall make Part 4 of my collections, then it will be up to you all to draw out
the pattern.
A. I was admitted at the Nairobi Women’s Hospital (hereinafter referred to
as “the hospital”) on 16th January 2012 after experiencing labour
pains. At the time of my admission at the hospital I was 30 weeks pregnant.
B. That I delivered the baby through normal vaginal delivery, and since
the baby was premature, she was put in the incubator.
C. That after delivering the baby, Dr. Murila Florence Vunoro, a
pediatrician, (hereinafter referred to as “Dr. Murila”) was assigned to take care
of the baby who was very stable.
D. I was discharged on 20th January 2012 to go home, leaving
the baby in the incubator in the hospital under the care of the hospital and
Dr. Murila. After I was discharged I used to go to the hospital everyday at
lunch time and the evening to see the baby and to take milk for feeding the
baby.
E. From the date of delivery, the baby was being fed through a feeding
tube. On 8th February 2012, at lunch time, I noticed that the baby
had vomited the milk she had been fed but nurses who are supposedly to take
care of her had not noticed and I duly alerted the nurses. My opinion was that
the baby was vomiting when they added fortifier to the milk, and I therefore
asked the nurses not to add the fortifier to the milk that she was to be fed at
6pm that day. So, the milk the baby was fed on 8th February 2012 did
not have fortifier and the baby did not vomit.
F. I also alerted Dr. Murila of the fact that the baby was vomiting, and
she directed that an x-ray be conducted.
G. Accordingly, Dr. Murila instructed that the baby starts Intravenous
(IV) feeding to replace the feeding tube which included proteins of which I
don’t think they included. The intravenous feeding started on 9th
February 2012 at night.
H. During my visits on 10th I had noticed that the baby’s hand
that had the IV line was swollen meaning nothing was getting to the baby and I
had duly alerted the nurses who had noticed but not taken any action. The
nurses called the hospital’s doctor (not Dr. Murila) to check the IV line.
I. On 11th February 2012, during my lunchtime visit, I again
noticed that the hand with the IV line was still swollen and I again notified
the nurses of the same. Apart from the swollen hand, the baby was fine. I left
for prayers which I really needed for my baby.
J. On 11th February 2012 at around 5pm I got missed calls from
Dr. Murila. I returned the doctor’s call and that is when she informed me that
they had been trying to reach me to ask for my permission to take the baby to
the ICU but that unfortunately they had lost the baby in the process.
K. At the time of the missed called, I was praying and only saw the missed
calls after my prayers at 5pm. The missed calls had been made at 4pm.
L. During all this time, neither Dr. Murila nor the hospital bothered to
reach my husband yet they had his number. When confronted with this fact the
following day, they admitted that failure to call the husband was an oversight
on their part.
M. We learnt, after we lost the baby, that the hospital did not have an
ICU for babies. All along, we were under the impression that the hospital was
well equipped and capable of taking care of its in-patients.
N. The lack of an ICU unit at the hospital goes to show that the
hospital’s facilities were wanting and this ought to have been communicated to
us at the time of my admission since the hospital knew very well that I had
gone into premature labour and hence the baby needed specialized care.
O. Without prejudice to the foregoing, it was not proper for the doctor
and/or the hospital to waste time trying to reach me on the phone instead of
rushing the baby to any nearby hospital with an ICU first, when they realized
that the baby needed to be taken to the ICU.
P. The other fact of concern is that the pediatrician, Dr. Murila Florence
Vunoro, who was assigned to take care of the baby was a contractual doctor who
was not at the hospital at all times. The doctor used to come at night between
9pm and 10pm and was not there throughout to take care of the babies who needed
specialized care. My baby being a premature baby needed specialized care and
not periodical check-ins as was the case.
Q. From the foregoing, I feel that Dr. Murila’s and the hospital’s
actions/inactions amounted to medical negligence against which action should be
taken to protect other babies and mothers from such occurrences.
R. If the Dr. Murila and the Hospital had exercised due diligence, then we
would not have lost our baby.
S. I also noted that the nurses there do not respond in time, the alarm
will ring for 30minutes without them bothering what the patient wants. In
special unit for babies the hospital assigns duties to nurses who don’t know
how to handle the babies, sometimes we were getting scared because they will
bring nurse who has never worked in a special unit and is left alone without
any training.
Don’t ask why all these people are
not following the right procedure to air their grievances, for instance,
reporting the same to the medical board that is put in place for such. Well,
they can but guess what, nothing can be done because the C.E.O of Nairobi Women’s Hospital is part of the
board…so guys, do the math and you will discover that nothing is ever going to
be resolved in this manner. Share this information all over and if you have
stories to tell, email me at sadhi80@gmail.com.
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