Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has refuted claims that Mama Lucy Hospital in Nairobi underperformed while responding to the Embakasi explosion tragedy.
The Governor fired off in a letter dated February 4 against an article by Sunday Nation that had questioned the hospital's service delivery.
In his missive, Sakaja insisted that medics at the hospital did a stellar job responding swiftly to emergency cases. He added that the response kicked off on Thursday night through to Sunday, the time of publishing this article.
"Contrary to the allegations of inadequate treatment, we want to clarify that every effort has been made to provide comprehensive medical care to those affected," he wrote.
According to the CS, the hospital received 216 patients from the tragedy who were attended to with seven getting referred to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and 17 to the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital (KUTRRH).
He further added that supplies were continually provided at the facility.
"Contrary to the insinuations of chaos and disarray, Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital operated seamlessly, conducting 50 X-rays, 10 ultrasounds, and 8 CT scans. There were zero fatalities in the hospital. To manage the situation effectively, we augmented our manpower by adding 10 doctors and 15 nurses who worked in real-time to attend to all the victims," he added.
"Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital serves about 3,000 patients a day with daily admissions of close to 50 patients a day, delivers 70 mothers a day, and operates 50 patients a day."
The blast, which occurred on Thursday night, claimed four lives and left hundreds of others nursing injuries from serious to mild burns.
The explosion, which caught the attention of President William Ruto and his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, among a slew of other leaders, was linked to two mechanics who attempted to jumpstart a stalled vehicle.
Sparks produced during the incident caused the explosion given that residents had earlier detected gas leakages. Ruto and Gachagua ordered the arrests of individuals associated with the plant and government officials who allowed it to be set up.
Other leaders, like Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, however, called out Sakaja over what they termed as poor service at various hospitals among them Pumwani.
Sifuna claimed that Pumwani Hospital management was forced to shut down several wards due to understaffing while those on current staff were on the verge of expiring in a week.
“For a facility that delivers hundreds of babies a day, we cannot afford the problem to persist even a day,” he lamented.
