Court gives defence 7 days to file documents in medical negligence case

Longisa Hospital in Bomet East. [File, Standard]

The High Court in Bomet has directed the defence team in the Longisa County Referral Hospital medical negligence case to submit additional documents within seven days.

The case centers around the tragic death of a three-year-old girl named Diana Chepng'eno.

Her family filed the lawsuit after a distressing incident last year at the hospital following a bee sting.

According to the family, the child was denied emergency medical attention for over seven hours, despite her critical condition.

In his ruling, Justice Julius Ngar'ngar stated that the respondents must provide any outstanding information before the hearings, which are scheduled for October 8th and 9th.

He also granted the petitioners time to review the submitted documents before the case progresses to the evidentiary stage.

Justice Ngar'ngar acknowledged that the Judiciary's Case Tracking System (CTS) had been experiencing technical difficulties for the past two weeks, but stressed that this should not disadvantage any party involved in the case.

Amazon Koech, the lawyer representing the petitioners and the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU), stated that the case seeks justice and accountability, highlighting systemic failures and alleged medical negligence by the hospital and the county administration.

"We have lined up two witnesses for the case. We also hope that by the time of the hearing, the Judiciary will have resolved the issues affecting the Case Tracking System," she said.

Justice Ngar'ngar further directed that the petitioners will have the entire day on October 8th to present their evidence, while the defence will present their case on October 9th.