Muhuru Bay ward residents in Migori county have called for an upgrade of Tagache Hospital after a woman gave birth to quadruplets and later died.
At about 2 am on Friday, Diana Juma Waanda went into premature labour after six months of pregnancy and was rushed to the hospital.
“She started experiencing labour pains and she woke up a relative who rushed her to the hospital,” Mary Ogot Alloys, a relative said.
Waanda said she thought she had twins before she was shocked they were four.
“When we were at the clinic the first medic was overwhelmed before he called for back-up of two others, the first two kids were born alive and the other two died in the womb and had to be pulled out,” Alloys said.
The mother had given birth to two boys and two girls.
According to Alloys the first twins who were born alive weighed 1.2 kilos and 1.1 kilos respectively while the other two were 500 grams each.
“We thank God the mother is alive and getting medication, we are just shocked our bundle of joy went away,” he said.
Local residents have called on the upgrade of the hospital which they said does not have enough maternity facilities and a referral network which could have saved the children.
Hevron Maira, immediate former Muhuru Bay MCA said the lack of an ambulance at the hospital, an oxygen plant, few staff and an incubator for children born prematurely could have saved the situation.
“The deaths could have been avoided if we had an incubator at Tagache and an ambulance, the nearest is in Migori Referral Hospital but we wondered by the response was not there,” Maira said.
Kibro Beach Management Unit chairman Joel Maulidi said the hospital has been lacking medicine too which made women giving birth shy away and see traditional midwives.
The two called on both the national and county government to improve Tagache Hospital.
“We know generally in the ward we have been facing hunger which might have affected pregnant women's nutrition, but we call for more to be done,” Maulidi said.
Muhuru Bay MCA Lawrence Magubo termed the incident as unfortunate and confirmed that the hospital needs an important upgrade.
“It is sad that for the first time in the area, a woman gave birth to quadruplets, but they all died. We will support the family,” he said.
Attempts to get a rejoinder from the county health executive Awuor Nyerere and county Public Health Director Joshua Ongwara were futile as they were not in the office by the time this story was published.
Orderlies said they were in a meeting in Kisumu and attempts to get their comments over the phone failed as they did not pick up or reply to text messages.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said Migori is among 15 counties with the highest burden of maternal and infant deaths during pregnancy caused by high levels of poverty, insecurity, infrastructural challenges and inequity marginalization leading to poor maternal and new-born health statistics
