A mother is fighting for her life at a Nairobi hospital after she was admitted for delivery but complications arose pushing the bill past the Ksh19 million mark.
In an interview with Citizen TV on Monday, December 13, the family of the patient, Fridah Mwendwa, noted that trouble began after she contracted the Covid-19 virus.
She was subsequently admitted at a city hospital but the severity of her infection forced her to undergo an emergency operation to deliver the baby at just 28 weeks of pregnancy.
The mother and the new born were both separately transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for more specialised treatment.
"Fridah Mwendwa became ill on August 3. Many hospitals were full and so we found space in one of the city hospitals. She was expectant but also very week. The doctors were forced to perform an emergency operation on her.
"The child was moved to ICU and the mother was also transferred to the ICU wing with Covid-19 patients," stated Martin Gakunda, the child's foster father.
Gikunda further disclosed that she stayed in the Covid-19 wing for two weeks before she got moved to the regular wing.
She suffered an attack while nearing her discharge which forced the doctors to perform a resuscitation on her.
"Fridah had two cardiac arrests and in that situation, it led to Hypoxia, or low blood circulating to the brain. She got what we call Hypoxic-encephalopathy, which means brain damage due to low levels of oxygen.
"As you can see, she has been in hospital now for four months. In total, she has stayed in ICU for 54 days and in HDU, 35 days," explained the doctor.
Her foster family noted that Mwendwa has never seen the baby since it was born and she has only seen the picture.
"The only thing she has seen is the photo and of course I have taken the video which I have shown her. When she sees those images of the baby, she cries," added Gikunda.
The family noted that through relatives and friends, they contributed over Ksh2 million, enough to get the baby discharged from the hospital.
They further noted that the pre-term child named Gitonga has been healthy and that they spend Ksh7,500 on a bottle of 400 grams baby milk.
They still keep hope alive that Mwendwa will be discharged soon.
