KMPDB on the spot as botched surgery doctors open new clinic

Ms June Wanza Mulupi died on June 6, 2018 following a botched breast implant procedure at Surgeoderm Healthcare off Nairobi’s Lenana road.

Her death became national news especially after the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board (KMPDB) found that the surgeon who led the procedure, Dr Martin Ajujo, and the anaesthetist, Dr Evans Charana, were not qualified to operate on Ms Mulupi.

A shareholder and the lead practitioner at Surgeoderm, Prof Stanley Khainga, was also found partially responsible for the blunder that claimed Ms Mulupi’s life.

In a February 2019 ruling, the KMPDB also faulted Surgeoderm Healthcare Limited after finding that the facility had started operating before being granted a license.

To operate a medical facility in Kenya, the owners must obtain a permit from the KMPDB.

Surgeoderm obtained its license on April 5, 2018 yet Ms Mulupi’s first consultation at the clinic happened two weeks earlier.

The KMPDB later revoked Surgeoderm’s operating license following the storm over Ms Mulupi’s botched procedure.

Rebranded

The Nation investigations desk has established that Surgeoderm has now rebranded to Da Vinci Medical Group and is back in operation, and the doctor found culpable for Ms Mulupi’s demise is one of its star plastic surgeons.

Da Vinci’s shareholding is the same as Surgeoderm’s, with only one addition – Prof Omu Anzala – who is now an equal partner in the business.

Prof Khainga, Dr Ajujo, Dr Ferdinand Wanjala Nang’ole, US-based Dr Charles Omondi Otieno, Dr Edward Nandi Mackutwa and Dr Vincent Stephen Muoki Mutiso each had 150 shares in Surgeoderm.

The six doctors and Prof Anzala each have 10 shares in the new outfit, Da Vinci Medical Group Limited.

Da Vinci was incorporated as a company on March 1, 2019 – just one month after the KMPDB found Surgeoderm and Dr Ajujo in Ms Mulupi’s responsible for Ms Mulupi’s death.

Its postal and physical addresses and phone number are the same as Surgeoderm’s.

The phone number and email address used while registering Da Vinci are Dr Ajujo’s, an indication that the surgeon could have been the one who did the actual registration.

Granted operating license

The KMPDB granted Da Vinci an operating license on November 14, 2019. The document, displayed at the clinic’s Theta Lane facility was signed by KMPDB CEO, Dr Daniel Yumbya.

The Directors of the Da Vinci’s owners must have tricked the regulator into issuing an operating license.

Da Vinci applied for its operating license, it put Prof Anzala’s name at the top of its list of shareholders to make the facility appear to be a completely new outfit with no connection to the embattled Surgeoderm.

Mr Yumbya said that investigations into Da Vinci is ongoing and the matter is in court.

Contacted on Wednesday, Dr Yumbya said most KMPDB workers in a position to shed light on Da Vinci’s registration and any action taken against Dr Ajujo and Dr Khainga were away from office.

“I am not in a position to answer such questions now. My team is not in the office to retrieve the file for us to get to know the extent of investigation,” Dr Yumbya said.

When we visited the clinic Wednesday posing as potential clients, the front office staffers confirmed that Dr Ajujo practices at the facility. We were able to book an appointment with Dr Ajujo.

“The doctor is not in yet but we are expecting him at 12pm, you can either come back or we call you once he is here,” said the receptionist.

At exactly 12pm, we were back at the clinic and we were told that the doctor was still in theatre and all the bookings had been cancelled for the next day.

Dr Ajujo did not respond to our calls on his known phone number.

From the past experiences, when the Board finds you culpable, they either revoke your license as a practicing doctor or they deregister your clinic until such a time that they conform to the guidelines.

Policy questions

However, in less than a year after the incident, the clinic rebranded and was registered. Legally, Da Vinci can be considered to be a new institution, but having been registered by some of the same individuals found culpable in a negligence case raises policy questions on the KMPDB’s part.

In 2019, Ms Mulupi’s family moved to the High Court seeking compensation on the strength of the KMPDB ruling that found Prof Khainga, Dr Ajujo, Dr Charana and Surgeoderm culpable.

The case is still in court.

When we contacted Mr Mulupi’s husband and his advocate, Mr Jimmy Simiyu, they declined to comment, stating that they would not wish to risk saying something that would be deemed to be in contempt of court.

As Dr Martin Ajujo operated on Ms Mulupi on June 5, 2018, he nicked her gut and the waste therein flowed out leading to an infection commonly known as sepsis.

At the time, Dr Ajujo was a trainee at Kenyatta National Hospital, and was not licensed to conduct surgeries without his supervisor, Dr Stanley Khainga.

Ms Mulupi was rushed to Nairobi Hospital on June 6, 2018 after she deteriorated and was staring at death.

At Nairobi Hospital, the admitting doctor indicated that Ms Mulupi walked in looking “considerably healthy”.

But the admission report was filed by Dr Ajujo, the same surgeon who had told Ms Mulupi’s family at Surgeoderm that her condition had deteriorated hence she had to be transferred to another hospital.

And when the blunder went public, Prof Khainga, Dr Ajujo and Dr Charana defended themselves by insisting that Nairobi Hospital’s records indicated Ms Mulupi was admitted in stable condition.

Prof Khainga has since sued to be absolved from blame and to revoke Nairobi Hospital’s decision to clip his authority to admit patients at the facility.

Prof Khainga is a consultant at Nairobi Hospital, and also heads University of Nairobi’s plastic surgery department.

He told the Medical Board, and the High Court that he received a call from Dr Ajujo on June 6, 2018 and his trainee stated that the surgery had gone awry. He then told Dr Ajujo to transfer Ms Mulupi to Nairobi Hospital.

Contradiction

In his defence to the KMPDB, Dr Ajujo said it was Ms Mulupi’s family that had decided on Nairobi Hospital, contradicting his mentor and business partner.

Ms Mulupi died, and her story went public.

The KMPDB took up the matter and concluded that Dr Ajujo, anesthetist, Dr Evans Charana, should not have been operating on Ms Mulupi at the time.

Dr Khainga, Dr Ajujo and Dr Charana have since challenged the KMPDB’s preliminary inquiry committee (PIC) decision to fault them for the death.

They have argued that the 11-member committee has no powers to direct the board, arguing that its authority was limited to making considerations on whether the case had raised grounds for admission but not delving into the merits of the case.

The doctors further claim that PIC failed to follow the official complaint process, which was allegedly raised only against Surgeoderm and not the doctors.

They have also accused the KMPDB of bias and are demanding to know the grounds on which the Nairobi Hospital and a Dr Reuben Okioma were left out of the investigations.

Dr Okioma was tasked with saving Ms Mulupi’s life at Nairobi Hospital after the Surgeoderm saga. His efforts were futile and an infection claimed Ms Mulupi’s life.

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