Kitengela woman gives birth on roadside after being chased away from hospital for lacking Sh1,000

On Wednesday, a pregnant woman who was refused admission to Kitengela sub-county hospital due to a lack of Sh1,000 gave birth on a roadside in Noonkopir.

Mary Wanjiro, who was expecting her second kid, said she gave birth to a dead child after going through agonizing pains since Tuesday night, when she went to the hospital.

“I went to the Kitengela sub-county hospital on Tuesday and arrived there at 8 pm when amniotic fluid started flowing. I asked the nurses to admit me, but they refused to listen,” said Wanjiro.

Wanjiro said she was forced to sleep outside the wards on a bench in the cold until Wednesday morning when the nurses asked for Sh1,000 before she could be attended to.

“I had no money. I tried telling them that my husband would bring the money, but they insisted that without the Sh1,000 I would not be admitted,” said Wanjiro.

Wanjiro claimed she walked home to Noonkopir after being chased out at 10 a.m., but as she neared her house, she ran out of energy and was forced to sleep by the roadside.

She claimed that as she was falling, the baby came out but was already dead.

“There was no one to assist me and in the process, I lost my baby,” said Wanjiro.

The hospital’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr Veronica Abuto said she checked the list of all the patients and those expectant mothers in the hospital but did not find her name.

“I just wonder why she was not booked if it is true that she was here last night. We do not ask for Sh1000. This is complicated because we do not have her name here,” said Abuto.

Wanjiro insisted on identifying all of the nurses who spoke to her on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

By the time the reporters arrived around 5 p.m., the infant’s body was still lying close to the woman on the Noonkopir road.

Wanjiro stated that the police were summoned at lunchtime but had not arrived by 4.30 p.m.