• Shock hit residents of Mbita in Embu county after a man who was to be buried was found alive.
• Stephen Kivuti allegedly died after consuming excessive alcohol was to be laid to rest at their Mbita home in Mbeere South sub-county on Thursday.
Shock hit residents of Mbita in Embu county after a man who was to be buried was found alive.
Stephen Kivuti allegedly died after consuming excessive alcohol was to be laid to rest at their Mbita home in Mbeere South sub-county on Thursday.
The burial was however stopped after the family found him alive in the hospital bed.
His father James Nyaga had announced the death of his son after he had been told he had died and taken to the mortuary after being admitted at the Embu Level Five Teaching and Referral Hospital on January 1, 2020.
Kivuti was said to have been referred to the facility from another hospital.
He had allegedly over drunk himself before he fell unconscious.
His parents James Nyaga and Faith Nyaga in conjunction with residents had been meeting for almost a week as they mourned his alleged death.
They had raised money and finalized burial plans.
The news broke when the family bought a coffin and proceeded to the facility to clear bills when they were notified that the man whom they were preparing to bury was alive.
To their shock, Kivuti was still lying in his bed receiving treatment, to which he was responding very well.
The family had believed it had lost their son and had even set aside a spot where the grave was to be dug after organizing with the Area Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) clergy to conduct the funeral.
According to his father, anxiety started after Kivuti engaged in a drinking spree to celebrate the new year and entered into his house where his siblings found him unconscious in his bed.
He said he was then rushed to Kiritiri Level Four hospital where doctors declared they could not resuscitate him as his condition was too serious and thus referred him to the referral hospital where he was admitted for advanced treatment.
"We left him in ward no 2 in one of the beds and went back home and that the following day we went to check on him and were shocked to find he was not in the bed," he said.
On inquiry, Nyaga said other patients told them nurses had declared him dead and his body taken to the mortuary.
Nyaga said on hearing the news of the death of his son, he collapsed and passed out.
He left the hospital after gaining consciousness and told the rest of the family of what had transpired.
From then on, the burial preparations kicked off and scores of residents were gathering there daily to mourn with the family.
Area chief Josphat Nyaga, chainman of the burial committee Njoroge Kimani confirmed about the bizarre event noting that apart from the eulogy which had been paid for, they were to buy the coffin.
They said, as a result, they had resolved that the money that had been raised for the funeral should be left to the family to take care of the patient and other needs.
On getting a comment from the hospital management, journalist were told the hospital leant of the events the day the family had come to collect the body from the morgue.
The mortuary attendant looked at the files and realised there was no such name in the registry before he called the main hospital to confirm.
This is where things started to unfold before it was discovered Kivuti was still in his bed.