A bereaved parent has accused Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital nurses of misdiagnosing and neglecting her two week old baby a few weeks ago.
The baby, Paxton Yanis died in the hands of nurses and trainees while receiving treatment at the facility on November 4, 2018.
According to the deceased’s mother, Joyce Kariuki who spoke exclusively to Kahawa Tungu, said that her child was fine on the morning of November 3 but started noticing some changes at around 10 am.
It is then that she rushed her baby boy to the referral hospital. The doctor on duty instructed that baby Yanis undergo a series of lab tests.
Upon receiving the results, the unidentified doctor informed the parents that the 2 week old child had some sort of infection. Baby Yanis was transferred to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) as she risked getting infected in the general ward.
It is during her short-lived stay in the HDU that things went south. Ms Kariuki told Kahawa Tungu that one nurse, who she says wore dreadlocks announced that the deceased was suffering from anemia.
“She said that my child was suffering from anemia yet they had not carried out any medical tests,” an emotional mother said.
Kariuki and her husband, Alfred Ongoro sought clarification over how a mere infection had turned into anemia. They bumped into a nurse who shockingly told them that Yanis had meningitis.
Still, no tests had been carried out, at least not with their knowledge.
When visiting hours came, their child had an oxygen mask, was on a drip and was still undergoing a blood transfusion.
All these, she said, happened without their consent.
That Saturday evening, the parents sought to have their child transferred to a facility in Eldoret but the management flatly denied them the referral letter. They said, it was a long process that could only happen on Sunday.
When Sunday came they spoke to another nurse who again said that the deceased had a blood infection, a condition she referred to as Sepsis.
Confused and tired, they again fought to have their only child get treatment elsewhere. All efforts proved futile.
Visiting hours came again but this time, baby Yanis, her mother explained, appeared tried and was bloated. The oxygen mask still on, but the oxygen tank switched off.
A nurse in the room explained that their was an electrical issue but was being looked into. Other oxygen tanks were however working just fine.
Moments later they broke the news, her child had died.
The hospital management quickly wrote the mourning family a burial permit but the name of the deceased was that of the mother and not child.
They even got the sex of the baby wrong. Kahawa Tungu also understands that the referral hospital’s management forged the father’s signature on the burial permit.
Baby Yanis has since been laid to rest but the parents still unable to come to terms with the loss of a child.
Kariuki and Ongoro are seeking justice for their child and want the nurses held accountable for their actions.
“I do not know them by name but I can positively identify them anywhere,” she lamented.
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