By Meletus EZE
Health officials in Kenya on Tuesday denied that 12 babies discovered dead in cardboard boxes at a Nairobi hospital died due to negligence.
Nairobi Gov. Mike Sonko made a surprise visit to Pumwani Maternity Hospital on Monday after he received tip-offs from the public alleging malpractice.
Sonko said on Twitter that he and his team uncovered the bodies of 12 infants, who had died “mysteriously’’.
He said t it was believed management had turned off machines in the maternity ward and that had led to the deaths.
However, health officials with the city of Nairobi hit back, telling a press conference that the babies had died naturally due to complications, and denying the machines were turned off.
They also said there were 11 dead infants, not 12.
Mahat Jimale, Nairobi’s chief officer of health, told newsmen that some of the babies had been born without heartbeats, while others had died during labour or were stillbirths or pre-natal deaths.
A medical union has called for staff members who were sacked after Sonko’s visit to be reinstated. It said the babies had to be stored in boxes because the hospital did not have a mortuary.
“It’s unfortunate that doctors have to bear the brunt of a hospital built in 1926 and don’t have a mortuary,’’ Thuranira Kaugiria, Nairobi secretary general of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, said.
