Kangundo Level 4 Hospital in Machakos County is on the spot following deaths of four newborns.
The deaths, which occurred on Wednesday, sent a wave of panic to dozens of expectant mothers who have been booked at the hospital’s maternity, as claims of professional negligence filtered from well placed sources. But the hospital’s Medical Superintendent, Dr Supa Tunje, who addressed the press at her office on Thursday evening, described the deaths as ‘normal’.
“I can confirm that we have lost four newborn babies at our maternity unit, which was due to different clinical conditions,” she explained.
Dr Tunje cited ‘very low birth weight’ as the predominant condition that led to other complications on the babies, which eventually caused their deaths.
Said Dr Tunje, “The first baby who was born with low birth weight developed breathing problems and died, while the second one, again with very low birth weight suffered severe infection and died the same day.” The third case, said Tunje, also suffered low birth weight and had congenital malformation, and developed breathing problems due to prematurity and died the same day.
In the fourth case, the doctor said the baby, who was delivered through emergency cesarean, died of severe birth asphyxia.
Expectant mothers whom we spoke to expressed fears of giving birth at the facility. Rights activist Chris Kyalo called on speedy investigations.