Mama Lucy Hospital is in the news again, as usual, not for good reasons. The hospital has now become a monument of shame where patients are going there at risk of dying. Many have lost their lives at this facility and nobody seems bothered.
On Sunday, a woman was forced to give birth in the corridors of the hospital after she was denied access. A watchman at the facility had locked her outside the hospital gate forcing the public to break down the gate and rushed her in.
Inside the hospital, nurses were unwilling to help. They went about their gossip and sneering as the woman fought for her life on the floor. She finally delivered and the management has given no damn and hasn’t even issued a statement on the issue.
Mama Lucy Hospital has become a deathtrap for thousands of women who go there to deliver. Corruption is all over the hospital. Watchmen at the gate often demand between 50 and 100 shillings to let the patients in. At the hospital, one has to bribe a nurse or doctor to be attended to.
Governor Johnson Sakaja had promised to fix the mess at the hospital once and for all. It seems he only said that for the cameras and went back home, ad forgot about everything.
In November last year, Kenyan Senators called for the temporary closure of Mama Lucy Hospital until things are “streamlined and put in order” following numerous reports of negligence at the facility that led to the death of patients with no action taken against the management.
There were sad tales of patients who walk into the hospital for a minor checkup but leave in a casket due to the massive negligence among medics at the facility. Pregnant mothers are more likely to die at Mama Lucy than at any other hospital.
The Senators met with Robert Omondi, the man whose wife walked into Mama Lucy Hospital to deliver Twins. She walked in healthy but due to negligence, she was brought out dead after delivering. So far, no medic has been held liable.
“Move with speed to get to the bottom of this matter and assure residents of Nairobi that your administration will put an end to these sorts of things at all our facilities. Very very heartbreaking,” said Edwin Sifuna, Senator for Nairobi County.
