A family in Kithangathini, Machakos County is seeking justice after their eight-month-old baby's arm was amputated following a botched injection.
The unfortunate events started when Mercy Kioko took her baby, Roxanna Ndunge to Mitaboni Level Three hospital after developing pneumonia complications.
After being handed some medication, she was referred to Machakos Level 5 Hospital on Saturday, March 14 where she was attended to at around 9 pm and admitted.
"A nurse was advised by two others to inject her some medication. He tied gloves on her upper arm to look for a vein to inject.
"She was injected on the wrist at first and the nurse went on to shave the sides of her head to look for a vein but she did not find any and resorted to injecting her arm," explained Kioko.
According to the mother, the nurse who she identified as Solomon injected her baby's arm but blood did not ooze out and went on to look for a different spot to inject, while the needle was still in the arm.
Kioko added that the nurse was not on duty and had only come to visit health care workers present in the hospital at the time.
The family was supposed to be discharged on Tuesday, March 18 but in the morning, Kioko noticed her child's hand was pale, and the fingers were swollen.
Her bandages were loosened and Kioko was advised to massage the arm and leave it hanging to assist in blood flow.
"I started noticing black spots and called the nurse and removed the drip. I was advised to inform the doctor about the situation.
"We were later taken to Imani Plaza in the evening, where the baby was scanned to determine the cause of the problem which they identified as lack of blood flow in the arm," narrated the mother.
She had to part with Ksh 1,000 shillings to cater for an ambulance after she was referred to Kenyatta National Hospital.
On arrival at KNH, she found out that the doctor whom she had been referred to did not exist and she was forced to start the admission process all over again.
After a long wait, they were attended to on Wednesday, morning March 19 and after scans, they were taken to a ward at around 3 pm, and at 6 pm the baby was given a dose.
On Thursday, March 20, the doctors said they would scan the arm to determine where to amputate and the screening revealed that pus had started forming.
The arm was later amputated in two stages with the first being the cut and the second being the sewing up, four days later.
The family experienced challenges because the child cried in pain and decided to report the case to the Ministry of Health and the Machakos County Governor Alfred Mutua but no action has been taken.
The pandemic has made life challenging for the family as the mother currently has no job and is struggling to make ends meet.
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