Nairobi County Health Department officials on Tuesday afternoon, during an inspection of Pumwani Hospital, explained that the deaths of the 11 infants discovered on Monday were accounted for.
During a press briefing, Health Chief Officer Mahat Jimale stated that each child was accounted for through tagging and notification in the event of death.
The officer stated despite the 11 deaths that occurred between September 12 to 17, the hospital had 64 successful deliveries.
He explained that four were fresh stillbirths which were caused by low heart rate on arrival while two were macerated stillbirths.
The other four were neo-natal stillbirths and the last one was a dead child who was brought in by a Kenyan for safe disposal of the body by the hospital.
Stillbirth refers to the death of the baby at or after 20 to 28 weeks of pregnancy and results in a baby being born without signs of life.
Death of the baby during pregnancy after changes of the foetus in the womb is termed as macerated stillbirth while neo-natal stillbirth is the death of the baby within the first 28 days of life.
Jimale stated that the hospital is a referral facility like Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and the claims of unaccounted stillbirths were untrue.
He revealed that the kind of mothers the hospital handles come with a lot of complications.
According to the Health officer, measures such as conducting neo-natal maternity surveys every week will help reduce the cases of death of the infants.
Nairobi County Secretary Peter Kariuki stated that the suspension of the doctors by Nairobi County Governor Mike Sonko was an administrative process that is normal in any sector and not a case of victimization.
“ We are fair and just but we also want to be thorough especially in this instance where it is a matter of life and death,” stated Kariuki.
Acting Health CEC for Nairobi County Vesca Kangogo revealed that a multi-agency inquiry had already started and the report will be made public once the investigations were completed.
Kangogo pointed out that the hospital will comply with the recommendations that the report will give.
