Gatundu hospital on the spot again as pregnant w***n loses baby
Gatundu Level Five Hospital in Kiambu County is again on the spot after yet another pregnant woman lost her baby while waiting for hours to be attended by medics.
Harrison Nyagah Njeru, who lives in Ruaka, says his sister took his wife Nancy Karimi, 24, to the public facility on February 17, 2023, to deliver at a time when her pregnancy was post-term with various scans detailing that the baby was overweight for normal delivery.
At the time of admission, Karimi was 42 weeks and 2 days pregnant. As such, experts at the institution where the scans were done had recommended that she undergoes a cesarean section.
Njeru's sister pleaded with the doctors at Gatundu Level Five Hospital to operate on Karimi but they kept her waiting for hours resulting in the death of the unborn baby.
Despite numerous complaints by Karimi about the poor sitting position and irregular movement of the baby, doctors at the hospital are reported to have failed to provide closer monitoring and care to the woman.
On the morning of February 18, 2023, Karimi complained that all was not well but after delivering through a cut made in the mother's abdomen and uterus, the baby was found to have died ostensibly as a result of Karimi’s fatigue.
“It is sad that when I was expecting to be called a father, something unfortunate happened. Worrying enough that it did not just occur, medics here at Gatundu Level Five hospital neglected my wife, failed to offer her the necessary care and as a result, our child was born dead,” Harrison Nyagah lamented.
Nyagah claimed that his wife was kept for many hours because there was no obstetrician at the hospital for over 12 hours.
He now wants an overhaul done at the facility and medics compelled to take full responsibility for his child’s death.
“We want doctors here to take full responsibility for this and investigations conducted to establish who dropped the guard,” Nyagah insisted.
He made the accusations at a time when the hospital has been entangled in numerous indictments of offering poor services to patients.
James Njoroge, a resident of Gatundu said that the hospital has continually failed to offer crucial medical care services and patients are often sent to specific hospitals outside the public facility to be attended to and purchase the requisite drugs.
Njoroge regretted that the public hospital has no drugs, its various machines including laboratory, X-ray and others are not operational, it is understaffed and has not been offering quality services to patients.
“This hospital is no longer the facility that we knew. It’s a shell where all services are not satisfactorily offered. Why would we be sent outside for X-RAY and laboratory services for instance,” Njoroge questioned. 
His sentiments were echoed by Gatundu South leaders led by Member of Parliament (MP) Gabriel Kagombe, Members of County Assembly (MCAs) Joe Kigara (Ng’enda Ward) and Julius Kahura (Kiganjo Ward) who took issue with governor Kimani Wamatangi for neglecting the health sector and especially failing to properly operationalize the proposed referral and research hospital.
They regretted that for patients at the level five hospital to be sent outside to seek services they should get at the facility was unlawful, inhuman, unfortunate and regrettable.
The leaders thereby told Wamatangi to either work towards bettering healthcare services in the county or ship out.
On his part, Kagombe blamed poor services at the Gatundu hospital for the failure by Wamatangi to enter a pact with Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital (KUTRRH) to spearhead operations of the hospital.
“To effectively restore order in this hospital, Wamatangi only needs his signature to allow KUTRRH to continue operationalizing this facility. It’s unfortunate that Wamatangi is no longer available for advice and this makes us complain time and again,” Kagombe regretted.
Kagombe urged Wamatangi to dive into action insisting that the healthcare sector was not an area to be taken for granted.
The hospital management declined to comment on the negligence claims on camera claiming the facility has been prosecuted in the media for a long time.
Wamatangi recently vowed to crack the whip in the health sector.
The county boss stated that the sector has been taken captive by cartels whom he vowed to dismantle for better services.
Earlier, the governor had announced that he had put measures in place to ensure there are enough drugs in all health facilities in the county.
In December last year, Wamatangi flagged off trucks loaded with drugs and non-pharmaceutical supplies worth Ksh60 million which he said would be disbursed to the county hospitals.
