Kisumu woman set to live with police bullet

 First year Rongo University student Naomi Anyango at St Akidiva Memorial Hospital after she was shot on 12 August

Doctors say she has to choose between having it removed and getting paralysed the rest of her life or letting it stay. Full impact of police operation begins to emerge

[email protected]

A woman who was shot during protests in Kisumu at the weekend might have to live with a bullet in her body for the rest of her life.

Others are fighting for their lives in hospital, with doctors saying they are lucky to be alive.

Georgina Were, 27, captures the impact of the violent encounter between police and protesters in Kisumu after President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner of the presidential election.

Ms Were was shot in the buttocks as she ran back to her house in Manyatta on Saturday morning.

Doctors at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital fear that Were may never walk again if the bullet is removed because it is dangerously close to the spinal cord.

The hospital's chief executive officer, Juliana Otieno, said Were will be able to lead a normal life with the bullet in her body after the wound heals in six months' time.

Victims assaulted

Residents say most of the victims, including a four-year-old child, were assaulted by police in their homes or on their way home or at the shops.

In the hospital's surgical ward, David Okoth and Joab Opiyo are also nursing gunshot wounds. The two narrowly escaped death after they were shot by police. 

The bullet tore through Opiyo from the back, grazing his lungs before exiting through his rib cage. He has tubes connected to his chest to drain blood from his lungs.

Dr Otieno said Opiyo needs to have his chest scanned again to establish if he is responding to treatment.

Next to Opiyo's bed lies Okoth, a bandage covering his head. His face is swollen and until yesterday, he was unable to eat without the aid of tubes. Doctors said a bullet miraculously missed his spinal cord where it connects his neck to his head.

He will have to undergo further treatment before he is discharged.

These three were among 61 people who were brought to the hospital between Friday night and Saturday.

Police raid

A four-month old baby who is fighting for her life after allegedly being hit on the head during a police raid on her parents' house is also admitted to the hospital.

"Six people were treated for bullet wounds," said Dr Otieno.

The regional security committee has claimed that only one person was shot in a robbery attempt.

Kisumu Governor-elect Anyang' Nyong'o and Kisumu Central MP Fred Ouda have condemned the brutality.

They asked the police boss to investigate the reports.