The parents of a one-year-old boy from Kajiado County are living a nightmare after their son was wrongfully admitted to a private clinic in Eastleigh despite being referred to the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
This is after the ambulance that was transporting the child to KNH made a detour and brought the child to the private facility instead.
Since then, the parents have had to endure mistreatment from the hospital staff, who have denied them access to their child, currently admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of the facility, as the hospital bills continue to skyrocket.
Although the little boy had gone in for a routine collective surgery, his health took a turn at a Kajiado facility. A surgeon performing the surgery asked for Ksh5,000 before performing the surgery, an amount he claimed was to cover a catheter.
"I think we spoke to the mother, that was for the catheter, we do operations, and there are things that are not available in the hospital, and we inform the patient," the surgeon told Citizen TV.
Subsequently, the baby overdosed on anaesthesia and his heart stopped twice, leading him to slip into a coma, necessitating a transfer to KNH.
However, the hospital demanded Ksh50,000 to facilitate the transfer, which the mother borrowed. That is how the family were transported to the private clinic in Nairobi, even though the paperwork indicated that the transfer was meant for KNH.
At the Eastleigh facility, things only got worse when the bills started piling up, as the parents were denied access to their child until the bill was cleared.
In addition to this, they were both subjected to physical assault as the father was beaten for asking why they could not see their baby, with a video recording showing the moment a hospital administrator slapped the mother for asking the same.
Now, the parents are seeking the intervention of the Ministry of Health to intervene and initiate the transfer of the baby to KNH as earlier intended.
Meanwhile, both facilities have dissolved themselves off the responsibility, with the Kajiado facility's superintendent saying that he has no responsibility over where the ambulance driver chose to take the child.
Asked why the facility accepted a patient slated for KNH, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the private Eastleigh hospital said that it was a fully accredited institution and they should take up any issues with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC).
