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By Emmanuel Were
Nairobi, Kenya: A medical tribunal has found Nairobi Women Hospital negligent in the death of patient.
In a ruling delivered on Thursday, the hospital was given seven days to release to the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board its list of doctors, nurses and theatre technicians.
The board tribunal ruled that the hospital was run and operated in such a way that contributed to the death of Fanice Mebo Khashindi in 2008.
“It was evident the institution (hospital) lacked clear systems of managing patients in cases of emergencies,” the tribunal said.
This becomes the first case heard and determined by the board this year and it put the doctors’ regulatory body and hospitals on the spot.
Complications
The tribunal found the hospital guilty of allowing medical practitioners without proper training to perform complex procedures without supervision. Observers now say this is a concern that cuts across the industry.
Although, the board is supposed to inspect health centres for compliance of its regulations, many unqualified doctors slip through its net.
Ms Khashindi had an operation on the evening of February 21, 2008 to remove uterine fibroids (growth in the uterus) at the hospital. She passed on eight days later as a result of complications from the operations.
The hospital’s chief executive Dr Sam Thenya was ordered by the board to put in place standard operating procedures for patient monitoring and observations and provide proof of compliance by end of this month.
The hospital was also ordered to employ full time medical officers in the hospital to ensure adequate coverage on a 24-hour basis.
Thenya is to provide proof of compliance by the end of August.
Nairobi Women’s Hospital is to pay Sh600,000 to offset part of the costs of the board sitting as a tribunal to determine the case by the end of June.
In its ruling, the board found the hospital had at the time “inappropriate systems of work and of transfer of patients”.
Incompetence
The board also found the hospital employed medical practitioners who had not fully qualified to perform major operations. For example, Eric Njue, a theatre nurse confirmed in his evidence the hospital used theatre technicians to assist in major operations, it said.
“The tribunal also finds the use of this cadre in major operations is inappropriate and beyond their competence,” it reads.
The board also found that at the time the hospital showed a duty rota that largely comprised of practitioners who were either undertaking their postgraduate studies or had not complied with the requirements of the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board Act regarding private practice.
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