Busia children sue for injection gone terribly wrong

Chrispus Osiya, who is among the 20 children who were paralysed following a routine malaria injection at a dispensary run by the county government in Teso, Busia county. The 20 now want the county government to pay for medical negligence. (PHOTO: FILE/ STANDARD)

Three-year-old Ian Pamba, whose limbs were deformed shortly after getting an immunisation jab, has every reason to sue his county government.

Ian, like 28 other children in Busia, was paralysed after an injection meant to make him well went all awry.

The children suffered paralysis in July last year after being vaccinated at Akichelesit Dispensary.

They now want the county government to pay for medical negligence.

Even though his mother, Carolyn Pamba, said the complication might have been as a result of her delivering at home, she still feels her son’s health worsened after the jab.

“I delivered while at home but I used to attend clinics. After three weeks the child’s health changed and I was referred to Busia County Hospital,” she said.

The 26-year-old mother of three said her second-born child is totally unable to walk and he has been in pain ever since.

Luckily, Priscilla Oparanya, wife of  Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, offered to cater for her son’s medication.

But the parents of the 28 children who have sued Busia County government are still suffering as their children have developed other complications ranging from mental to physical disabilities.

“We have sued the county government for failing to support us to get medication for our children. Our children are suffering yet no one is willing to support the get the required medication,” said Abel Okiror.
Okiror said his seven-year-old daughter Vivian Asere is unable to comprehend what she is taught and told to do.

“She is ever complaining of weakness, headache, stomachache and high temperatures,” he said.

Ever since she got the jab, the girl can barely walk due to weakness in her right leg.

She also suffers bouts of memory loss and has constant headaches.

Killed dreams

“I am always seeking medication for my daughter. She is unable to walk and her dreams in life may be shattered as she is not able to concentrate in class,” he said.

Another frantic parent, Mathew Edejai, is afraid he might be losing his child after the jab.

“We appeal to well-wishers, the World Health Organisation, and the national and county governments to feel for these children and come to their rescue,” said Edejai.

He raised concerns that the children have been abandoned and they find it hard to get medical services from local hospitals.

He said some of the local hospitals lack facilities to treat the children.

“We have been left to fight for our children yet most hospitals in the county lack facilities to offer necessary treatment,” he said.

He said some of the children may drop out of school due to their condition, saying unless they get emergency treatment their studies may be ruined.

“Some of them do not attend school due to their condition. Are they children from a lesser God or why is it that the society and our leaders have forgotten them; leaving them to rot in their homes?” he posed.

Health experts says the children are suffering from sciatic neuritis following a direct injection on the sciatic nerve.

According to Dr Bernard Mwenesi, a physiotherapist at the Kakamega County General Hospital, the children need physiotherapy, including infrared heating, heat massage, frequent exercises, stimulation and use of special knee and ankle supporting devices.

“When injected directly on the sciatic nerve, it leads to numbness of the affected leg. Treatment is through physiotherapy and exercise within the first six months,” he said.