Baringo County referral hospital on spot again over alleged negligence

Baringo county health department refutes claims prior to the death of an asthmatic patient who died due to alleged negligence in the facility.

Speaking in Kabarnet hotel on Monday night while addressing the journalist on the issue, the County Executive Committee (CEC) Richard Rotich rubbished the claims saying that the patient was admitted and attended to with no negligence.

Rotich also defended the Baringo County Referral Hospital (BCRH) noting that the asthmatic patient (who succumbed) as well and sufficiently attended to by a clinical officer who was on duty and not by the (KMTC) practising students as reports indicated.

“The patient on arrival was not talking such that the medic was not able to speak directly with the patient but through the relatives who said that she had complained of chest pains and had difficulties in breathing, the doctor then prescribed the medication on the spot, she was done some tests to ascertain her health then admitted to ward 1 in less than half an hour,” the CEC health narrated.

He however noted that further treatment was administered to the patient and the patient was found with chest infections which may have led to her death, he also added that the deceased might have been severely sick before seeking medical attention.

The chief health department however sympathized with the deceased family giving his condolences to the bereaved family and the county at large for the loss.

Earlier on, drama ensued at the facility as the bereaved family stormed the hospital alleging that their kin Dorcas Jepkemboi who had been rushed to the facility to seek medical attention at around 4 pm had been neglected by the doctors causing her to succumb to the illness.

Esther Kiongon, sister-in-law to the deceased revealed that the doctors had however seen that the deceased was not in a stable condition because she had difficulties in breathing but she was only attached to an IV line.

“We admitted the deceased who had been asthmatic for a while at around 4 pm, I was however amazed when the medic only administered her with an IV line and could not be found again when her situation deteriorated. It is so sad because this is the place one should rush to when unwell but with the current rate of negligence in the hospital, we are left to die,” Kiogon narrated with tears rolling down.

She attributed the loss of their loved one to the carelessness of the hospital workers, she noted that her condition worsened at around 7 pm when she could hardly breathe but upon reaching out to the medics, she hardly found one, even the one who was on duty.

She added that the doctor showed up after an hour when it was already too late to save the situation.

The angered woman called out for disciplinary action against the entire facility, verbalizing that it was no longer rendering required services to humanity as expected, noting that it was not actually the first, second or third time but it had been a routine.

The hospital has however been on the spot for a while with negligence.

It is in the same hospital where 10 infants died in an incubator after medical students who were left to be in charge could not control the temperatures in the incubator well.

Mid-last year, a man identifying himself as DC Chemjor on Facebook penned down an emotional letter to the (BCRH) facility after losing his daughter at birth.

In his letter posted on his Facebook page stated that he lost his daughter due to prolonged labour which led to stillbirth, something he faulted the health facility saying that the doctors should be much more vigilant and avoid negligence at all costs.