The doctors’ union has cast doubt in the capability of Thika Level 5 Hospital to render services commensurate to its status.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists’ Union has questioned how a hospital failed to attend to the case of the two-year-old boy who succumbed after a foreign object got lodged in his skull for close to two days on time.
The union noted that for a hospital to be considered for such a status, it must have at least a neurosurgeon, an anaesthesiologist consultant among other consultants as well as Intensive Care Unit capabilities.
The patient had a fork jembe lodged in his head following an accident at their home at Kilimambogo in Kiambu county.
The boy was initially rushed to Thika Level 5 hospital for treatment but the doctors at the facility recommended a referral to Kenyatta National Hospital.
“The question Kenyans should be asking is why Thika Level 5 Hospital could not attend to this boy at the time he was presented at the facility,” KMPDU secretary general Dr Davji Atellah said.
“It is illogical that more than 10 years since the devolution of health services in Kenya, Kenyans are still forced to source for healthcare services at Kenyatta National Hospital when the counties have been empowered by the national government and the Constitution to deliver the highest standards of emergency health services."
The union noted that commercialising the delivery of health services in the country has continued to deepen inequity and alienate the poor who need the services yet they can’t afford them.
“For UHC to be realised, the consumers of health services must not be made to pay for services at the point of need,” Atellah said.
The union said the health workforce is the most critical success factor in the delivery of healthcare and that no amount of technological infrastructure and buildings can make up for the glaring gaps in skilled personnel.
They have called on the government to invest in skilled personnel in the delivery of attainable highest standards of health services.
According to a statement by KNH, the boy arrived at the facility at 6:30 pm but the circumstances and the timing of the injury remained unclear.
“Clinical examinations and investigations on the patient including CT scans and a blood test confirmed penetrating injury into the brain, brain swelling with ongoing bleeding and possible infection,” the KNH board chairman George Ooko said.
The hospital further noted that the ability of his blood to clot was impaired requiring correction before any other surgical intervention could commence.
The patient’s condition continued to deteriorate and he later developed complications while in the theatre and succumbed after resuscitation attempts became futile.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)