We’re not at fault, the referral system is- Mama Lucy over the death of Maureen.
Mama Lucy Kibaki has responded to the uproar over the death of Maureen Anyango who lost her life while giving birth to twins.
We’re not at fault; the health workers at mama Lucy have pointed fingers at the referral system.
Dennis Oduor, Secretary General to the Kenya National Union of Medical Laboratory Officers, Nairobi branch said,” Mama Lucy is a county referral hospital which means that the services you cannot get at the lowest health facility, you can get here, but that is not the case.”
“But unfortunately, like with the case of the late Maureen, we had to source for referral services for ICU at Kiambu level five. The nearest we could refer her to is Kenyatta but most of the time, the beds are full,” he added.
Oduor said that the bed capacity is however wanting.
He stated,”Some people even get referred here for blood transfusion from Kenyatta before they can receive dialysis so the bed capacity is wanting.”
Echoing Oduor was Boaz Onchari, Secretary General to the Kenya National Nurses Union in Nairobi who said that the time to save Maureen’s life was very short.
He said,”Getting a bed at Kiambu where she was referred, the turn-around time between when the call was made and when she arrived there, was too much to save her life.”
“We have nobody to blame on whatever happened. As healthcare workers, what we are blaming are the systems. It is not the job of a healthcare worker to put into place systems, it is the work of the employer who is the Nairobi City County.”
He further questioned on how the government makes a hospital a level 6 at a place which is inaccessible
He posed,”We have a level six hospital that was built and completed by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services, that is the current Mama Margaret Uhuru Kenyatta National Hospital here in Korogocho.”
“Of what importance is it that a hospital was built at the heart of a slum to decongest the facilities we have but instead it is handed over to the National Government?”
“If we had that hospital, just across from here and we had those facilities in place, then we could have saved that mother, or rather we could have made the efforts required to save the life of that mother,” he added.
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