A three-week-old baby girl died on Wednesday morning, adding to the sad statistics of the ongoing doctors' strike.
Baby Victoria Tunda was abandoned inside an incubator room at Malindi Sub-county Hospital maternity and later died as the doctors' strike entered the fourth day.
Baby Victoria was born prematurely at the hospital and had been on life support machines in the incubator.
But as soon as the doctors' strike began, her mother, Kerrina Mitsanze, alleges that doctors switched off the life support machines to join their colleagues on the streets after advising her to take the baby to Malindi Tawfiq hospital, a private health facility in the town.
At the private facility, the new mother was reportedly asked to pay Sh11,000 per day which she could not afford, forcing her to go back to the general hospital.
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With the strike still on, Baby Victoria was back in her incubator, abandoned and unattended.
She died on Wednesday morning at the Tawfiq hospital where she had been taken for the second time after county government agreed to pay her bills.
It is believed that the delays of being out of an incubator and the movement to and from the Malindi sub-county hospital might have complicated the baby's health.
Malindi Sub-county medical superintendent officer Dr Ajawi confirmed the death, saying it occurred in the confusion occasioned by Baby Victoria's transfer from the government to private hospital.
He said Baby Victoria stayed out of the incubators for too long it cost her life.
"The baby died because of exposure to cold. She weighed 1.2 kilogrammes," he said.
Baraka Baya, a relative of Baby Victoria, broke the sad news of her death news on social media.
On his Facebook page, Baya said Baby Victoria was just beginning to show signs of getting out of life support when the doctor's strike began.
"She had gained reasonable weight and was in a very stable condition. Unfortunately, the 'change' resulted in complications, leading to her untimely demise early this morning,'' he said.
According to Dr Ajawi, Baby Victoria died because her condition required 24 hours nursing.
Her candle blown out by the doctor's strike, three weeks after it was lit.
