Doctors discover 7 needles in baby's body in Kapenguria
This X-Ray scan shows the needles that were discovered in the child's body. PHOTO | OSCAR KAKAI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Five needles are in the girl's belly and two in the tissues around the back.
The baby was abandoned by her mother because of her frequent sickness over the last one year.
She has been under the care of her grandparents who said their daughter eloped with another man.
Doctors have discovered seven sewing needles lodged in the body of three-year-old child at Kapenguria County Referral Hospital in West Pokot.
The metals were discovered through an X-Ray scan conducted on Wednesday.
STOMACHACHES
Five needles are in the girl's belly and two in tissues around the back.
The baby was abandoned by her mother because of her frequent sickness over the last one year.
She has been under the care of her grandparents who said their daughter eloped with another man.
According to her grandparents, the child has been complaining of stomachaches and been endlessly coughing for the past one year.
After thorough examinations, the doctors were shocked to find the needles inside the body of the child from Kangilikwagan Village in Kapenguria.
The child grandmother Emily Ling'aa nurses her at Kapenguria County Referral Hospital on April 2, 2018 before the child was transferred to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret. PHOTO | OSCAR KAKAI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
She was immediately referred to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital for surgery to remove the foreign objects.
Medics at the Kapenguria hospital believe the needles were inserted in the child’s body. They ruled out swallowing.
'SICKLY'
The grandparents said they did not understand how the objects got in the minor’s tissues.
Her tearful grandmother, Emily Ling’aa, said she was shocked to see the X-Ray images.
She said they had taken the baby to a local dispensary but her condition did not improve, forcing her to travel to Kapenguria.
“Chepchumba was born well in a hospital. She has been with her mother but when she started being sickly the mother ran away,” said Mrs Ling’aa.
“I was left to take care of her. I felt some things in her stomach but I thought it was a normal disease or some problem with digestion.”
The poor family now says that it has no cash to treat the child.
POLICE CASE
“I was shocked to learn of the needles in her body after the X-Ray and wondered how they got inside the child’s body,” the woman said.
The aged couple said they had been giving the child some painkillers to help her fight the pain.
“The mother escaped because the child was sickly. She is now married to someone else. We used to give her pain killers and we took her to Center Kwanza Dispensary.We are stranded and we don’t know where to start from,” said Mr John Chepkokei Ling’aa, the grandfather.
Speaking to the press in his Kapenguria office, County Health Chief officer Ibrahim Longolomoi confirmed the case, saying they had reported the matter to the police.
“We are baffled by this and we have sought police intervention. This is mistreatment of an innocent child,” he said.
Last year, a similar case was reported in Kiambu County after doctors at Thika Level V Hospital found 14 sewing needles lodged in the backside of a 10-month-old child.
The child had been admitted to the hospital bearing symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting.
Doctors managed to remove 13 of the needles and left one that was deeply lodged in the child’s flesh, saying removing it risked harming her nerves and blood vessels.
The parents were charged with subjecting the child to torture at the Thika Law Courts.
