Mother delivers in taxi outside Garissa hospital

A mother delivered inside a taxi outside Garissa Referral Hospital on Wednesday morning as the driver prepared to take her to a private health centre.

Zahra Ali is said to have went into labour on Tuesday night at around 11pm and was immediately rushed to the hospital, but there were no nurses on duty.

Her husband, Mohamed Noor, said he decided to take her to a private hospital, but she delivered right outside the gate in the taxi before they could leave.

"I was left helpless when her labour pains increased and there was nothing I could do apart from supporting her to deliver, but thank God she delivered safely," said Mr Noor.

The normally packed male ward at the hospital was empty after relatives decided to take their patients to private health centres, while in the maternity wing, helpless mothers lay on the beds unattended. At one point reporters had to assist a mother to breastfeed her baby.

An intern, who declined to be identified because he is not allowed to speak to the media, said 31 clinical officers on internship had been left to attend to patients after nurses joined their colleagues in the nationwide strike.

The interns could not attend to patients with serious conditions. All they could do was assist stable patients with oral medication.

In the paediatric ward, Ibrahim Abdullahi was the only person there with his one and half-year-old son, who was diagnosed with an infection.

He said all other patients in the ward were discharged, adding that he remained because clinical officers were still attending to his son.

"All these beds were full, but all the patients left when nurses failed to attend to them, I have remained because blood was being transfused to my son by available clinical interns," he said.