The family of a Mombasa man who died mysteriously on Wednesday evening in Magongo will on Sunday know whether it was a case of the coronavirus.
Samples that were taken from the body on Friday afternoon were taken to government facilities for testing.
“We have been informed the results will be ready tomorrow. So we have to wait for them then know whether or when we will have to perform a postmortem on the body on Monday,” Vincent Wambulwa, the deceased’s uncle, told the Star on Saturday.
Neighbours said John Mabonga, 42, entered his house at Kwa Hola area of Magongo at around 6.45pm Wednesday.
He was heard talking on phone at around 8pm and never came out again.
Neighbours suspected something was wrong when by Thursday evening, the man did not open his door.
His phone wasn’t going through anymore.
They broke the door and found his body lying on the bed, with blood oozing from a gush in his head.
Police were called in but were afraid to handle the body saying public health officers should handle it first because of the threat of coronavirus.
There was confusion on protocol as both police and public health officers passed the responsibility baton to each other, causing panic.
The body was left on the bed overnight.
On Friday, police called in public health officers after residents started getting agitated by the slow response of both the public health officers.
The health officers arrived shortly after 12pm on Friday in white hazmat overalls.
They disinfected the house and the body before putting it in a white body bag and carrying it into a truck hired by the Temple of God Church where Mabonga worshipped and was a pianist, to transport the body to the mortuary.
Wambulwa said he had to move up and down Mombasa county as he sought necessary documents that would allow them transport the body for burial in Western.
However, he said he was disappointed by government officers who were informed of the death.
“When I got here from Mazeras, I was informed the police came here twice and left without doing anything. They left the body there to rot. Public health officials also did the same,” he said.
Moses Edwachi, a neighbour, said it was wrong for both police and public health officers to let the body stay for long without being attended to.
“There was a lot of confusion. Nobody new whose responsibility it was to take the body to the morgue. This stand-off caused the body to stay overnight, which is unfortunate,” Edwachi said.
Mabonga’s sister-in-law Ruphense Mkamburi said Mabonga’s wife was away in Taita to bury their last born son who died in March and stayed there while he came back to Mombasa.
She said Mabonga had been having fits of epilepsy.
“But every time he suffered a bout of epilepsy, he would be left alone for a while and he would regain consciousness. Then he would ask his wife not to tell anyone about it,” Mkamburi said.
Mabonga had also been complaining of chest pains but dismissed them as normal due to tiredness after a day’s work, she said.
A neighbour told the Star that Mabonga’s wife had confided in her that he had been suffering bouts of epilepsy mostly at around 3am.
He left behind a widow and a five-year-old son.
His elder brother Titus Kitui said he has no record of his brother having any epileptic condition.
Changamwe subcounty police commander Ali Ndiema said samples from the body have been taken for testing.
“This disease (Covid-19) is new so everyone is afraid to handle the body of a person who has died mysteriously. Even the police,” Ndiema said.
He said it was difficult to get information from the deceased’s relatives because they were afraid to share information.
“The relatives are not giving us information. This Covid-19 has sacred people so much so that people are not going to hospital for check-up even when they feel they are not fine,” he said.
He said the stigma that surrounds Covid-19 is dangerous.
This is the second such case he has received in two weeks.
The first occurred the neighbouring Hakika Estate where a person died in the house despite not exhibiting any signs of sickness.
“Luckily in this case, his people came out and informed us that the deceased had a history of chronic ulcers,” the police boss said.
He urged people to go to hospital for check-up anytime they feel sick.
“Not all sickness is coronavirus,” he said.
Burial preparations are ongoing.
Edited by R.Wamochie
