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Kiambu County Level Four Hospital is on the spot after two babies died yesterday when the facility allegedly ran out of oxygen.
Acting Medical Superintendent Grace Ochieng confirmed that two babies, aged three and 15 months died in the paediatric ward yesterday morning, but disputed reports that their deaths were caused by lack of oxygen.
She said that yesterday at 6.11am, the nurse in charge noticed that the gas cylinder was empty and they replaced in ten minutes.
“The babies were then put back on oxygen and 20 minutes later one of them developed breathing complications, medics started resuscitating him and at 6.45 he died,” she explained.
She said that the ten-minute delay could not have been the cause of death as the children were not dependent on oxygen.
However, the father of Henry Ndung’u (the 15 month-old) had a different story. Richard Karanja claimed that his child died of negligence.
“At around 3am, my baby developed breathing complications and my wife called the nurses about seven times but they did not respond. The cylinder was empty and the nurses only came at 6am to collect the bodies. My baby had died some minutes before they arrived,” he said.
“When he was admitted on Tuesday morning, we were told there was no medicine and we were sent to buy it outside the hospital at a cost of Sh1,500. I bought it and they administered it to him,” he added.
Ndung’u was admitted to the hospital’s paediatric wing on Tuesday at 9am after he was referred from the Nazareth Hospital as an emergency case. According to the records, he was diagnosed with septic shock, pneumonia and severe malnutrition.
A medical report by Ms Ochieng indicated that on admission on April 13, the child was in shock and resuscitation commenced immediately.
“Diagnosis of septic shock was made. Child on resuscitation was then put on oxygen and maintenance fluid. He remained very ill and oxygen was available throughout,” read the report, which added that he started gasping while on oxygen and died at 6.45am.
She said the hospital did not have any shortage of oxygen and that the generator is fully functional.
“From the time of admission, the baby did not respond well to treatment,” she said. The Standard could not access the records of the other baby and the baby’s family has not complained.
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