Misery and Neglect at The Nakuru Level 5 Hospital

Since its establishment in 1906, Nakuru Level 5 Hospital, formerly known as the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital, has served millions of patients in Nakuru and the surrounding counties.

Patients from Baringo, Nyandarua, Kericho, Narok, Laikipia, and Samburu frequently seek medical services at what was once the preferred health facility in the South Rift region.

However, recent accounts from patients seeking care at the facility reveal harrowing experiences due to its deteriorating conditions.

A week ago, Elizabeth Wairimu lost her life just hours after giving birth, an incident her family attributes to medical negligence.

Wairimu’s case has brought attention to the hospital's poor services, prompting Roselyn Mungai, the County Executive Committee Member of Health, to acknowledge the alarming state of the hospital.

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The facility is grappling with an acute shortage of doctors and nurses, as well as a lack of essential equipment.

"The maternity wing is severely overwhelmed. Considering the number of deliveries happening here compared to the number of nurses we have, it is severely suboptimal," Mungai stated.

Residents believe the facility has become a symbol of neglect and failed leadership.

According to Dr. Stephen Omondi, the South Rift Branch Secretary of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KPMDU), the 26 intern doctors working at the Level 5 facility are overworked.

“The interns do not even get a day off; they work from Monday to Monday. They only get 2-3 nights off, but sometimes they work for 48 hours without rest,” said Dr. Omondi.

He pointed out that for the hospital to operate effectively, each ward should have at least six medical officers, yet the Level 5 hospital has only two per ward.

“If one goes on leave, the remaining medical officer must care for all the patients,” he explained. While the facility has the required number of specialists, patients must first go through a medical officer before seeing a specialist.

Dr. Omondi revealed that the hospital is short of at least 23 medical officers.

In the paediatric ward, which ideally should have 12 medical officers, the Margaret Kenyatta Mother and Baby Maternity Unit is left with only six.

Overall, Omondi observed that the hospital needs at least 300 additional nurses. He agrees that this acute staff shortage has significantly contributed to rising complaints of negligence from patients.

The Saturday Standard has discovered that the hospital has 6 ICU beds, yet only four are equipped with ventilators.

Additionally, there is no ICU for children, and while there are six High Dependence Units (HDUs), none have been functional due to a lack of nurses since 2018.

 Patients are often found sleeping outside in the cold, with elderly women wrapped in lesos and thin clothing as they wait for medical attention in a facility that can no longer accommodate them.

Some distressed patients have turned to social media, sharing videos and photos to highlight their plight and draw attention from authorities.

The suffering endured under the leadership of Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika is not only disappointing but also a clear failure of her responsibility to protect and care for the citizens who elected her.

Two weeks ago, a viral video emerged showing patients being evicted from the casualty wing by security guards and forced to spend the night outside in the cold due to overcrowding.

This video illustrates the grim healthcare situation in the county, which is struggling to meet its residents' needs.

Ironically, while the people of Nakuru were facing these inadequate healthcare services, Governor Kihika was in the U.S. giving birth in a modern facility offering world-class services.

Kihika welcomed twins while mothers in Nakuru were losing their newborns at the Margaret Kenyatta Mother and Baby Maternity Unit.

Nakuru Senator Tabitha Karanja Keroche, a vocal critic of the governor, has since petitioned the Senate for a comprehensive audit of the hospital after a surge in maternal and infant deaths.

The senator is calling for the Senate Committee on Health to investigate the recent death of 26-year-old Elizabeth Wairimu, who passed away just hours after giving birth.

 The hospital management has been accused of negligence in Wairimu's case, as she died shortly after undergoing a cesarean operation.

Earlier this year, the hospital made headlines for troubling reasons when the body of a minor went missing under unclear circumstances.

In a statement, Senator Karanja condemned the county government, labelling the deaths as avoidable tragedies for many families.

She attributed these fatalities to management negligence and the leadership vacuum created by the Governor's absence while she was giving birth in the U.S.

"It is painful that the late Wairimu sought medical care for the same reason that the Governor sought treatment in the U.S. One mother returned with healthy babies, while another never came home, and we cannot afford to continue like this." She said.

However, the hospital medical superintendent, Dr James Waweru, has admitted that the hospital is underequipped.

The maternity wing has a bed capacity of 250 and is most of the time full to capacity, and at times some mothers sharing beds, but lacks ICU beds specifically dedicated to it.

As a result of emergencies at the maternity wing, patients are referred to ICU beds handling patients from the general wards, about 300 metres away.

“This hospital has six ICU beds, and we agree, these are not enough, but it is a work in progress. For optimal service delivery, I would recommend 20 ICU beds and HDUs,” said Dr Waweru.

The under-staffing question of the facility is not new. Before devolution, the facility lacked the capacity to handle the high number of patients- over 2.000 per day.

“Under-staffing is a challenge in the health sector countrywide. We recently advertised and are currently recruiting 353 nurses. We are hoping they will come to ease the workload,” said Waweru.