- Baby Travis died on the evening of October 11, 2022, after allegedly having to wait for too long before receiving emergency treatment
- The management of Kiambu government and medics at the facility on Tuesday said the hospital lacks a pediatric neurosurgeon that could have saved the baby.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Lack of a pediatric ICU and a neurosurgeon at Thika Level 5 Hospital could have contributed to the death of baby Travis Maina.
This was revealed by the management of Kiambu government and medics at the facility on Tuesday.
They said the hospital lacks a pediatric neurosurgeon who could have saved the baby.
The neurosurgeon, they said, are mainly found in Level 6 facilities, such as the Kenyatta National Hospital where the baby was referred for specialised treatment.
The revelations emerged even as the doctors at the facility warned that immediate removal of the fork jembe from the juvenile’s head would have been more harmful.
“If you were to look at the CT scan, there was deep bleeding on the left side and you can imagine the size of a baby’s head and then it had gone in 4.25 cm deep,” a consultant urologist Wanjiru Kirimi said.
“I think, even with the timely intervention, having penetrated the brain matter, there was something that was going to be lost.
"And think that is the challenge they had even at Kenyatta."
Kirimi, is the specialist who recommended the baby’s referral to KNH.
She was among a team of medics from Thika level 5 hospital who appeared before the senate’s health committee probing the circumstances that led to the death of the minor.
The team was led by Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi, Health CEC Joseph Murega and Health chief officer Patrick Nyagah.
The medics defended their handling and referral of the baby to KNH, telling the Senator Jackson Mandago-led committee that they did everything within their ability to save the baby.
“Seeing that at Thika Level 5 we lack a pediatric neurosurgeon, a pediatric anesthesiologist and a pediatric ICU, I recommended referral to KNH,” Kirimi told the committee.
Baby Travis died on the evening of October 11, 2022, after allegedly having to wait for too long before receiving emergency treatment at KNH.
According to the boy’s mother, the toddler died on the surgeon’s table after being rushed to the hospital from Thika Level 5 Hospital after coming in from Ndula Dispensary
A report filed with the committee by Dr Philip Mulingwa, head of the surgical unit at the facility, shows that the management of ‘penetrating brain injuries’ as was the case with baby Travis requires a comprehensive neurosurgical trauma unit which the hospital lacked.
“The only neurosurgical care Thika Level 5 Hospital can be able to handle are extra-axial (brain) conditions including soft tissue injuries and depressed skull fracture," Mulingwa said.
Governor Wamatangi admitted the challenges in the health provision and promised action to turn around the facilities.
“In the next year, I promise, things will be different,” the county boss told the panel, adding that he was still setting up his government as he settle down to work.
Nyagah said that for the facility to be upgraded, it needs an enhanced budget to fulfil all the requirements for a Level 6 facility.
“There is a thin line between what we are offering and what level 6 is offering but out budget is much lower,” he said.
On Tuesday, the committee heard how the baby was moved from a clinic to the Thika Level 5 and finally to the KNH.
Cyrus Maina, a nurse working at the Thika Level 5 Hospital, narrated to the committee that while running his errands in Ndula sublocation on October 10, he met baby Travis with a fork jembe lodged in his skull.
He rushed to a nearby clinic, which he owns and performed emergency treatment on the baby.
“I applied WD40 (antirust agent) on the nails holding the fork jembe to make the nails loose. With the assistance of local community members and a carpenter by the name Mr Maingi who doubles up as Delmonte worker, we removed the nails with pliers and safely removed the handle (rod),” Maina told the committee.
The committee received submissions from E-plus emergency medical services, a firm contracted by the county government to provide ambulance services.
The team and the Thika Level 5 Hospital were put to task to explain why they ferried the baby to KNH without a nurse.
“Was there a nurse in that ambulance? What do regulations say?” Mandago aked.
The teams admitted the ambulance did not have a nurse.
Mandago disclosed that the committee is now set to visit the KNH where the baby and his mother are said to have waited for several hours allegedly due to a lack of Sh20,500 to secure his admission.