Matungulu MP Stephen Mule wants a private hospital in his constituency probed after a woman who gave birth at the facility died shortly after being transferred.
Mule said the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board and the Ministry of Health should investigate Ruai Family Hospital in which Eunice Ngei delivered.
The 34-year-old woman reportedly died at Kangundo Level 4 Hospital in Machakos county, a few minutes after she was transferred from the private health facility located in Tala town.
“I have heard about the incident at Ruai Family Hospital, the issue needs to be looked into deeply. I will notify the Parliamentary Health Committee on this issue and take firm action,” Mule said.
Mule urged the NHIF to be firm and ensure institutions registered with it adhere to ethics set by the medical board.
“We cannot allow businesspeople to take advantage of the sick. So, Ruai Hospital’s proprietors should carry their own cross,” he said.
The woman’s relatives have blamed their kin’s death on the private hospital.
The woman’s husband, Reuben Ngei, said he begged the facility’s management to refer his wife to Kangundo Level 4 Hospital for specialised medication after she developed complications, but they declined.
“These people have killed my wife. I begged them to transfer my wife to Kangundo Level Four Hospital but they refused. My wife told me that she would die in the facility,” Ngei said.
However, Ruai Family Hospital administrator Paul Okoth disputed the claims stating that they did everything possible to save the woman’s life.
Okoth said that they transferred the deceased to the public health facility in time, under stable condition.
“We feel for the family, we tried doing all we could to save the woman’s life,” Okoth said.
He said the Ngei was brought in at the facility at 7am last Thursday, received by medics and delivered at around 4.45pm before she started bleeding.
“Based on the circumstances, our medics had to deal with postnatal haemorrhage. We tried to get an ambulance to transfer the patient to Kangundo Level 4 Hospital but there was none,” he said.
Okoth said the deceased was transferred to the facility in a private car for further management.
The body was moved to Kangundo Level 4 Hospital mortuary.
