• Scholastica Odhiambo died after undergoing caesarean operation at a private hospital in Bungoma.
• Police record statements from county logistics director Simiyu Mutaki and Isaac Omeri, hospital owner
Image: FILE
Police in Bungoma have recorded statements of a senior county official and a medical doctor about a woman who died after a cesarean operation.
Bungoma DCIO Joseph Nzioka told the press they recorded statements from county logistics director Simiyu Mutaki and Dr Isaac Omeri, the owner of Khalaba Kospital in Bungoma town.
Scholastica Odhiambo, 33, passed away early Thursday after a cesarean operation done at Khalaba Hospital.
Nzioka said police launched investigations after the family suspected a conspiracy or professional negligence.
“We have launched investigations into the matter and are following the phones of the county official and the doctor to see if they were in any communications or any other conspiracy, ” Nzioka said.
Odhiambo, the second born in a family of five, had gone to the facility while in labour.
She was reportedly booked for a ceserean operation which was done hours past midnight.
Her brother Kevin Omondi said a friend phoned him about her sister’s state on Thursday morning around 2.40am.
He left Mumias and arrived at Khalaba Hospital at 3.40am to find his sister lying unconscious on a bed with a baby on her side but with no one attending to her.
She suddenly started groaning in pain, prompting Omondi to look for a nurse and begged for help. However, the nurse, whose name the Star could not establish, refused to check on the patient.
“The nurse told me to ask my sister’s neighbours to attend to her because they had talked to her in an unfriendly manner,” Omondi said.
Dr Omeri who carried out the operation arrived later and pronounced the woman dead.
But when Omondi sought answers on who authorized the operation, Omeri allegedly ordered security guards to eject Omondi with the body of his sister. He gave them a vehicle.
“He ordered us out immediately with no medical records of my sister and the baby,” Omondi said.
The nurse allegedly told the family that the hospital bill had already been paid and they should leave the hospital.
Omondi and friends took his sister's body to LifeCare Hospital mortuary located three kilometers away.
Dr Omeri said he examined the woman and decided she needed the operation after labouring for too long.
“As a professional gynecologist for years, I observed the lady and decided that a caesarian operation was the way to go after doing the necessary tests,” he said.
He said the operation was successful and left an hour later.
He was later called and told the condition of the patient had deteriorated.
Omeri said Scholastica died of excessive bleeding. “We had initially tried to regulate it but I think it was unfortunate that we lost her,” he said.