Burial turns into celebration after Embu man is found alive

The burial programme of Stephen Kivuti who was assumed dead by his family. PHOTO | GEORGE MUNENE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mourners in Gitaugua village in Mbeere South were all set to give Stephen Kivuti, 27, a final sendoff when it turned out that the man was actually alive and in hospital.

  • Officials at the Embu Referral Hospital say the father went to the wrong ward and, when he did not find his son, he concluded he was dead and went back home.

A family in Embu planned for the funeral of their kin, whom they assumed was dead, only for them to discover on burial day that the man was alive.

Mourners in Gitaugua village in Mbeere South were all set to give Stephen Kivuti, 27, a final sendoff when it turned out that the man was actually alive and in hospital.

The confusion over the man’s death occurred when his father assumed he was dead after he failed to find him in a ward when he visited him.

But officials at the Embu Referral Hospital say the man went to the wrong ward and, when he did not find his son, he assumed he was dead and went back home.

At home, the father, James Nyaga, told his family that Kivuti was dead and burial arrangements began.

Mourners who had gathered to bury the man. PHOTO | GEORGE MUNENE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

The hospital’s chief executive officer, Dr Daniel Mugendi, said the patient was unconscious when he was admitted on January 2 and has been receiving treatment at the facility.

"Family members were just careless. The father went to the wrong ward and, when he failed to find his son, he assumed he was dead and went ahead to plan for a burial without seeking more information from relevant hospital officers," said Dr Mugendi.

The parents of the man who was found alive in hospital. PHOTO | GEORGE MUNENE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

On Thursday, when mourners went to collect the body from the mortuary for burial, they were taken aback when they were informed that Kivuti was not in the mortuary but in the ward.

The mourners went to the ward and found Kivuti being attended to by nurses.