Our baby died at top hospital due to power blackout, Embu couple says

When Mary Muthoni, 28, went into labour, she visited Embu Level Five Hospital with high hopes of safely delivering a healthy baby.

She vividly remembers being admitted to the hospital’s maternity ward on August 23. It was on Wednesday at around 5pm. An hour later, she gave birth to a baby weighing 2.8kg. Moments later, doctors told her that the baby was having trouble breathing after inhaling amniotic fluid and was rushed to the nursery and put on oxygen.

According to Muthoni, the baby was doing well until Friday night when the hospital suffered a power cut.

“The baby was breastfeeding well. I was even able to bathe it, but the problem started when the power went off and the baby’s oxygen supply was cut off,” she said.

Ms Muthoni said the baby became so weak in the nursery that she could hardly breastfeed.

She knew something was wrong when the doctors called her at around 9am on Saturday.

“The doctors confirmed my worst fears when they told me that the baby had died. The death could have been avoided if the doctors had been careful,” she said. Muthoni insists that the power cut and negligence caused the death of her newborn.

“When the power went off, it took minutes for the generators to come on. Even after the generators were switched on, they didn’t run throughout the night and that affected my child,” she said at her home in Githure market, Kirinyaga County, where she lives with her husband James Mathagu.

The couple is now seeking justice.

“Our child died because of negligence. The medics failed to protect my child from inhaling amniotic fluid. They also failed to turn on the generators immediately there was a power cut and that is the negligence of the highest order,” said Mr Mathagu.

The couple said after the death of the child, they obtained both the death and birth certificates from the hospital and went home to mourn.

“We were so distraught that we didn’t even collect the body for burial. We left the body at the hospital for the management of the health facility to dispose of it,” said Mr Mathagu. He added that the loss of the child was a big blow and they will “not forget what happened to our child”.

The distraught father said the devolved government should ensure that the doctors responsible for the child’s death do not go unpunished.

But a senior doctor at the hospital dismissed claims that the child died because of lack of electricity.

“The baby died when she got pneumonia after inhaling amniotic fluid. This is a natural death and has nothing to do with electricity,” said the doctor, who asked not to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the press. “ I don’t want to be quoted on the matter. Only the county health executive Francis Ndwiga can speak,” the doctor said.

He explained that there are five large automatic generators in the hospital and the question of lack of electricity should not arise.

“The generators turn on automatically when there is a power cut and the allegations made by the mother of the child are not true,” he said. “Those who claim that five babies died due to lack of electricity are not telling the truth.”

Mr Ndwiga also refuted claims that two babies lost their lives due to power cuts.

“Our position is that...babies didn’t die in our hospital,” he said, promising to submit a full report on the matter.

Governor Cecily Mbarire had earlier also dismissed the death claims as untrue. She said that data from the hospital showed that only one premature baby had died.

The governor emphasised that the five standby generators were operational and that the national power outage had not affected the health facility’s operations.

When Mary Muthoni, 28, went into labour, she visited Embu Level Five Hospital with high hopes of safely delivering a healthy baby.

She vividly remembers being admitted to the hospital’s maternity ward on August 23. It was on Wednesday at around 5pm. An hour later, she gave birth to a baby weighing 2.8kg. Moments later, doctors told her that the baby was having trouble breathing after inhaling amniotic fluid and was rushed to the nursery and put on oxygen.

According to Muthoni, the baby was doing well until Friday night when the hospital suffered a power cut.

“The baby was breastfeeding well. I was even able to bathe it, but the problem started when the power went off and the baby’s oxygen supply was cut off,” she said.

Ms Muthoni said the baby became so weak in the nursery that she could hardly breastfeed.

She knew something was wrong when the doctors called her at around 9am on Saturday.

“The doctors confirmed my worst fears when they told me that the baby had died. The death could have been avoided if the doctors had been careful,” she said. Muthoni insists that the power cut and negligence caused the death of her newborn.

“When the power went off, it took minutes for the generators to come on. Even after the generators were switched on, they didn’t run throughout the night and that affected my child,” she said at her home in Githure market, Kirinyaga County, where she lives with her husband James Mathagu.

The couple is now seeking justice.

“Our child died because of negligence. The medics failed to protect my child from inhaling amniotic fluid. They also failed to turn on the generators immediately there was a power cut and that is negligence of the highest order,” said Mr Mathagu.

The couple said after the death of the child, they obtained both the death and birth certificates from the hospital and went home to mourn.

“We were so distraught that we didn’t even collect the body for burial. We left the body at the hospital for the management of the health facility to dispose of it,” said Mr Mathagu. He added that the loss of the child was a big blow and they will “not forget what happened to our child”.

The distraught father said the devolved government should ensure that the doctors responsible for the child’s death do not go unpunished.

But a senior doctor at the hospital dismissed claims that the child died because of lack of electricity.

“The baby died when she got pneumonia after inhaling amniotic fluid. This is a natural death and has nothing to do with electricity,” said the doctor, who asked not to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the press. “ I don’t want to be quoted on the matter. Only the county health executive Francis Ndwiga can speak,” the doctor said.

He explained that there are five large automatic generators in the hospital and the question of lack of electricity should not arise.

“The generators turn on automatically when there is a power cut and the allegations made by the mother of the child are not true,” he said. “Those who claim that five babies died due to lack of electricity are not telling the truth.”

Mr Ndwiga also refuted claims that two babies lost their lives due to power cuts.

“Our position is that...babies didn’t die in our hospital,” he said, promising to submit a full report on the matter.

Governor Cecily Mbarire had earlier also dismissed the death claims as untrue. She said that data from the hospital showed that only one premature baby had died.

The governor emphasised that the five standby generators were operational and that the national power outage had not affected the health facility’s operations.