• Chair of the National Assembly Health committee Sabina Chege condemned the incident in which a woman gave birth outside the gates of Pumwani Hospital, unaided by doctors and nurses.
• She demanded and explanation from the Nairobi Metropolitan Services and called on director general Badi to investigate and report to the committee. NMS claims the woman was assisted by nurse, which witnesses deny.
The chairperson of the National Assembly Health committee has demanded NMS explain why a woman in labour was barred from Pumwani hospital where she delivered outside the gate.
The woman was aided by a good Samaritan and other women but Pumwani doctors arrived after the baby girl was born.
A video making the rounds on social media showed the woman openly giving birh outside the gate as a crowd milled around her.
Several women covered her and screamed for the hospital staff to come out and help.
NMS said it happened on September 13 after nurses began a go-slow but a hospital nurse out to aid in the delivery. Witnesses denied the NMS version.
Chege said on Saturday that giving birth is extremely painful and every woman should give birth in dignity. She was donating a chick incubator to women's groups in Gikandu, Kiharu, Murang'a county.
Government-run Linda Mama is a free maternity programe for less fortunate women, meaning the woman was entitled to assistance.
Chege said any mistake in maternity care can cost the lives of both the mother and child and said pregnant women must be protected.
“We need to unearth the truth about what led to the incident to avoid a recurrence,” Chege said. Even the details of the vehicle that dropped off the woman at the hopsital must be established, she said.
Nairobi Metropolitan Services released a statement apologising for the incident. It said the woman gave birth on September 13, just two days after nurses began a go-slow but said essential services were still being offered.
NMS director for Health Josephine Kibaru-Mbae said security guards denied access to the woman in labour. She said a nurse rushed outside, helped with the delivery and admission of the woman to the maternity ward.
She said the mother and child were discharged on September 18, a day before the video surfaced. She said the security team has been changed and a customer care desk established.
Christine Gakii, the woman who helped in the delivery, denied claims by NMS that a hospital nurse helped in the delivery.
Gakii said the woman in labour had been accompanied by her husband but they were turned away at the gate by hospital guards.
She said the woman fell to the ground and screamed for help. Gakii stepped in to help in the delivery as the husband ran for help from another hospital.
She said doctors only came out after the woman had delivered a girl.
Chege, who is also Murang’a woman representative, asked NMS director general Mohammed Badi to investigate and make a full report on the childbirth to the Health Committee.
Badi runs the Nairobi Metropolitan Services, including health.
Chege said the incubator will help nine women's groups and increase their poultry farming capacity. It can accommodate 450 chicks..
(Edited by V. Graham)