Senators to probe death of baby with fork-jembe lodged in skull.

The Senate Committee on Health has launched investigations into the heart-wrenching demise of a 2-year-old boy who was admitted at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) with a fork jembe lodged in his skull.Travis Maina died early October while medics were trying to safely remove the jembe after allegedly waiting for long hours before being attended to.

In a rejoinder, KNH clarified that the boy had lost too much vital fluids and that his blood was not clotting normally hence could not rush him to the operating table. At a press address on Tuesday, the committee’s chairperson Senator Jackson Mandago said that they will ensure that they conduct a robust probe to unravel the matter and deliver justice for the baby.
“We are siezed of the matter and the committee will be undertaking investigations immediately with a view to getting justice for baby Travis’s family and also address the challenges in our referral system to prevent further loss of life,” said Mandago.

Mandago added that they will be interrogating medics from the hospital as well as the baby’s mother to narrate on the ordeal that transpired on the fateful day.His counterpart Narok Senator Ledama Olekina noted that the alleged stall for baby Travis to receive treatment contravened article 43 of the Constitution which gives citizens right to healthcare.

He further laid bare that most hospitals lack enough medical supplement yet the money allocated for the development of the facilities is hoarded at the national level.
“We are sending a warning to health facilities that every person is free to access healthcare with our without money,” Olekina…”These level 5 hospitals are just on paper as most don’t even have drugs. Money is still retained at the national level instead of going to counties to enable them to provide services to people,” he noted.

Baby Travis was injured at his home in Kiambu County after another child hit him on the head with the farm tool.He was rushed to Thika Level 5 hospital before being referred to KNH after it was established that he needed specialised treatment to have the jembe safely removed.

In its condolence message to the family KNH noted that they could only do much in the unfortunate incident as the boy’s blood deficit and clotting became acceptable enough for the hospital to perform surgery on him.

Article By Suzy Nyongesa.