• Widow claims she rushed Charles Bukeko to Karen Hospital where he was not attended to but died in his car in the hospital parking bay.
• Hospital director denies claims of negligence, says doctors tried their best but did not elaborate, hinting there could be legal action.
Image: COURTESY
Charles Bukeko popularly known by his stage name Papa Shirandula was writhing in pain and gasping for breath as he waited in his car when he was rushed to Karen Hospital.
Unattended to for some time, he died in the car, his widow said on Monday.
Papa Shirandula had Covid-19 when he died on Saturday morning. He initially had gone home after a Covid test on Monday last week.
Widow Beatrice Andega said he got the results two days later. He stayed home but his condition worsened.
At his burial on Monday, Andega blamed medical negligence and admissions bureaucracy for what she called a fatal delay, despite his condition being an emergency.
She said she watched the famous comedian and actor turn cold and die in the car seat in the hospital parking waiting area. He was aged 58.
Reached for comment, Karen Hospital proprietor and director Anthony Gikonyo denied the claims of negligence, saying doctors did all they could.
"We did our best to save Papa Shirandula's life...but he unfortunately died," he said. "As a hospital, we are sorry about it. There could not have been much that was not done to save his life."
He did not elaborate or address the widow's claims of delayed admission and death in the parking bay. He did not discuss any medication or advice Papa had been given when he went home after the Covid-19 test.
Gikonyo said parties have hinted at seeking legal redress.
Bukeko's body was taken to his rural home in Nanderema, Samia, in Busia county where he was buried on Monday before 9am.
Andega told mourners during the televised burial that her husband has been away for a while, working day and night. When he returned home last Sunday, he complained of chills and said he was feeling unwell.
She told him to go to the hospital to be tested for pneumonia, malaria and Covid-19.
“You have been in cold weather for a long time, go to the hospital and get a test for pneumonia and malaria. I told him to also get tested for Covid-19 because ‘you are mingling with too many people’. Make sure there are three tests. He agreed," Andega said.
But at Karen Hospital on Monday last week, Bukeko was only tested for Covid-19 and only got the results two days later.
But on Friday, she noticed he was getting overwhelmed and had difficulty breathing. She rushed him to the hospital on Saturday morning.
“…at the Karen Hospital, admission was just another process. I’m telling them, 'Please, he needs support, this is an emergency.' The time they were still preparing, he passed on when I was with him in the vehicle. He was not even admitted. He passed on seated in the car,” Andega recalled.
“I went and asked the doctor, 'How many tests did you carry out?’ The doctor tells me ‘only one’. I asked him ‘Why? There were meant to be three. I asked him, ‘Why did you concentrate only on Covid-19 and omit the other two'?" the widow said.
“I felt it was negligence on the part of the doctors at the hospital. I wish they did everything for him (but) they omitted," she said.
The claim of negligence brings to mind the alleged negligence and delay that saw literary icon Ken Walibora die at Kenyatta National Hospital in March.
It was reported that he was rushed to the national referral facility after a road accident but remained at the waiting bay for about 24 hours, in pain until his death.
(Edited by V.Graham)