Evans Kidero defends Pumwani Maternity Hospital nurses as strike ends

The Pumwani Maternity Hospital on March 25, 2015. PHOTO | WILLIAM OERI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • In a statement by Communications Director Walter Mong’are, Dr Kidero said none of the nurses will be victimized over the sit in.
  • The 186 nurses went on strike on Wednesday in reaction to allegations that newborn twins were stolen from the hospital.

Operations at Nairobi’s Pumwani Maternity Hospital resumed early Friday after nurses ended their two-day strike called to protest allegations that babies were stolen from the hospital.

Nurses returned to work after negotiations with Nairobi County government senior officers.

Governor Evans Kidero defended the nurses, saying they should not be “demonized” for a single occurrence.

In a statement by Communications Director Walter Mong’are, Dr Kidero said none of the nurses would be victimised over the sit-in.

“As your governor, I stand by you that no one has the right to pass a judgment on you without giving the full time of law. You remain not guilty until you are pronounced so.

“As a county, we support every effort that is being made to establish the truth on the baby Wanjiku saga through the existing forum at both the national and county levels, respectively. We stand for the truth and therefore must allow the full process to establishing this truth,” said Dr Kidero.

The 186 nurses went on strike on Wednesday in reaction to allegations that newborn twins were stolen from the hospital.

The nurses demanded to be transferred from the hospital, whose reputation has been dented by baby theft allegations.

The Senate is investigating a case in which Mr Dedan Kimathi’s wife, Jacinta Wanjiku Gathua, gave birth to twins at the hospital on January 6, but doctors there told her the babies died 12 hours before they were born.

DNA tests on the bodies of two babies that were said to be theirs showed that there was no genetic relationship between them and the alleged parents.