Mailu instructs KNH management to beef up security

Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu

Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu has instructed Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) management to beef up security in order to protect patients.

This is after reports emerged on social media, claiming new mothers were being raped by some hospital attendants during the wee hours of the night.

Mailu has also ordered thorough investigations into the matter, asking the KNH management to provide a detailed report by January 22, 2018.

In a post that went viral on social media pages, new mothers complained of being sexually harassed by mortuary attendants as they went to breastfeed their babies at the newborn unit during the night.

One respondent narrated that the attendants had a habit of scaring new mothers with dead bodies along the hospital's corridors.

According to the post which triggered Kenyans’ reactions, this has been going on for a long period of time.

The victims also cautioned patients to be wary of thieves and pick-pocketers along the hospital corridors and queues.

After a meeting with the hospital’s management, Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union(KMPDU) Secretary General Ouma Oluga, however, said they had checked some CCTV footage from the hospital but had not witnessed anything in connection to the social media reports. 

KNH CEO Lily Koros also termed as false, the social media reports of rape at the health facility, urging members of the public to report any cases of harassment.