• The public health facility’s medical superintendent Jesse Ngugi said that Unified Pharmaceuticals sold the drug that was prescribed by one of the doctors at the hospital.
Kiambu Level 5 Hospital has exonerated a private chemist from the claims it sold ‘wrong’ drugs to a complainant leading to a miscarriage.
The public health facility’s medical superintendent Jesse Ngugi said that Unified Pharmaceuticals sold the drug that was prescribed by one of the doctors at the hospital.
"It is true that the drug dispensed by the private chemist to the complainant was the one prescribed at Kiambu Level 5 Hospital, it is the one that is prescribed for her condition," Jesse told the Star on phone on Tuesday.
Rachael Nzilani, 23, had accused the chemist based at Githurai 45 estate of dispensing to her five tablets of Susten 200mg on the evening of December 21 casing the death of her unborn baby.
Nzilani lost her foetus after she took one of the tablets on December 22. T
I bought and took the drug with the prescription of a health officer from Kiambu Level 5 Hospital where I had sought medication for bleeding on December 20," Nzilani said.
Unified Pharmaceuticals admitted selling the drug to the complainant.
"Yes, we sold the drug to her based on the prescription as per the documents she showed us from Kiambu Level 5 Hospital," an attendant at the chemist, who declined to reveal his identity said.
The medical superintendent told the Star that they were through with the complainant as far as they were concerned.
"We are through with the patient. She came to my office and told me about the miscarriage and I recommended a second ultrasound. She said she had no money to pay for the service, but we went ahead and conducted it on her," he added.
The ultrasound confirmed that Nzilani had miscarriage.
Ngugi, however, maintained that the prescribed drug had nothing to do with the miscarriage.
“I told her to get through the procedure of cleaning her womb at the facility but she walked away,” he added.
Nzilani said she could not accept more services at the hospital since she had lost confidence in the doctors.
“I smell a rat at Kiambu Level 5 Hospital, what caused the miscarriage then if the prescribed drug to my condition then was alright?” she queried.
She said she would seek the services elsewhere and not at the same facility.
Ngugi said the Susten drug is meant for women whose pregnancies are at risk.
“The drug has a higher dose of progesterone that gives hope to pregnancies, it sustains and protects pregnancies,” Ngugi said.
In communication between Ngugi and the complainant on Monday seen by the Star, he stated, “There was no misdiagnosis, the ultrasound was good evidence for threatened abortion. Things change with time, your condition progressed from threatened abortion to incomplete abortion. What you need is an evacuation of the uterus.”
Nzilani reported the matter to Kimbo police station under OB 33/22/12/2019 at 4.11pm on Sunday.
According to hospital documents seen by the Star, Nzilani suffered pelvic bleeding and abdominal pain for two hours before she sought medication at Kiambu Level 5 Hospital.
She paid Sh1,200 for a scan and received the prescription from a health official at the hospital.
“I profusely bled before the foetus came out immediately after taking the drug. I feel that there was a problem either at the hospital where I was diagnosed and prescription made or at the Chemist where the drug was dispensed,” Nzilani said.
She added, “I need justice for the lost life, my unborn baby.”
The chemist had told Nzilani to go back to the doctor who prescribed the drug and confirm if it is what they prescribed.
He said they didn’t know what ailment was meant for the drug to cure.
“This is the right medicine. Take the drug to the doctor who prescribed it and tell him all these things you are telling us here. I sold the drug according to the prescription,” the attendant told Nzilani on Sunday.