Panic as fire erupts at Mbagathi Hospital’s newborn unit
An empty maternity ward at Mbagathi Hospital in Nairobi. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
The electric fault resulted in a total blackout at the hospital, affecting the maternity wing, postnatal and newborn units, and three kangaroo baby care rooms.
Eventually, the mothers and their newborns were transferred to other wards at the hospital.
The superintendent said the incident caused panic at the facility, but there were no casualties.
Fatigue and anguish were written all over the faces of new mothers at Mbagathi Hospital’s maternity and newborn unit as they tightly held onto their babies after an electric fault caused a power outage last night.
“I was forced to hold onto my newborn close to my body for hours as I feared for her life after power went off,” said a mother at the hospital.
The woman, who requested anonymity, narrated how the mothers were forced to rush for their babies in the wee hours of the morning after incubators stopped working following the power cut.
“It was a long four hours before daybreak. I called my husband who arrived here some minutes after 6am,” she said.
ELECTRIC FAULT
The electric fault resulted in a total blackout at the hospital, affecting the maternity wing, postnatal and newborn units, and three kangaroo baby care rooms. A total of 15 newborns were in the kangaroo care rooms and 42 in the main nursery. Kangaroo care rooms are especially used for premature babies.
The hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Loice Mutai, said the incubators do not work without electricity, forcing them to find other means of keeping the babies warm.
“At about 2am I was called by the nurse in charge who told me there was a problem in the postnatal ward and that there had been a brief fire at one of the main metre boxes but as soon as the fire started it tripped and there was a blackout. The fire did not spread,” said Dr Mutai.
The superintendent said the incident caused panic at the facility, but there were no casualties. Mothers run out of the building, with some standing in the rain for some minutes before the situation was contained, she said.
MATERNITY WING
Eventually, the mothers and their newborns were transferred to other wards at the hospital.
“The mothers were moved to the eye ward and some were taken to the gynaecology ward, that used to be the maternity wing, until this building is fixed,” she said, adding that mothers in kangaroo care have since been taken to Lang’ata Health Centre.
Electrical engineer Samir Hussein explained that the electric fault must have been caused by having too many machines – the incubators and heaters – on at the same time overloading the system.
He said the incident was a minor occurrence that can happen depending on the kind of equipment being used, saying it will take a week to be fixed.
