Team to probe why child died at Mama Lucy Hospital while waiting for ambulance set up

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero has set up a team to investigate the death of a three-month old child at Mama Lucy Hospital on Wednesday after waiting for an ambulance for over five hours.

“It is very unfortunate to learn that a child’s life was lost. I would like to assure Nairobi residents that we have launched investigations and audit to ascertain the cause of death. If indeed it was negligence by hospital personnel, then the responsible officer(s) will face prosecution,” said Dr Kidero on Sunday as he set up the team.

This comes after Gerald Juma, the father of the deceased child Dominic Otieno, threatened to sue the hospital over what he termed as negligence.

“I left my house with my baby but I am back without him. Had the hospital provided the ambulance as expected my son could be alive,” said Mr Juma.

Dr Kidero said that efforts are being made to improve service delivery at the hospital.

“Every Kenyan has a right to proper healthcare services; this is most critical in the capital which has a high incidence of diseases due to high population density and other environmental factors that predispose people to infections and illnesses,” said Dr Kidero.

The County Executive Committee member of Health Bernard Muia said that they have also acquired a mortuary attendant to avoid the bizarre incident that made the couple stay with their dead son for over six hours.

Mr Juma and his wife waited for over 6 hours before their baby’s body could be taken to the mortuary as the hospital did not have a mortuary attendant and were told the available one was stuck in traffic.

Mr Muia said that out of the four ambulances at Mama Lucy Hospital, which handles over 1,300 outpatients daily, only one is operational while the other three staled long ago.

He added that that would be last such case of death at the hospital since he would work with the management to ensure that the image of the hospital.

“I will deal with the hospital myself to ensure that we restore its image by transferring and redeploying officers in this hospital,”said Dr Muia.