Mr Irungu Houghton ,SID Associate Director with Ms Sandra Ochola, the acting Executive Director of Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network (KELIN) during a press conference at Panafric Hotel Nairobi on October 10, 2015. PHOTO | WILLIAM OERI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
A private hospital has been criticised for failing to admit road crash victim Mr Alex Madaga, who spent 18 hours in an ambulance waiting for treatment.
Mr Madaga died on Friday afternoon at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
A group of civil societies led by the Society for International Development (SID) and Kenya Ethical and Legal Issues Network said “Alex’s death would have been prevented had he received timely quality health care".
SID Associate Director Irungu Houghton on Saturday told journalists that the hospital, which is located on Ngong’ Road, “must be held singularly responsible for turning him (Mr Alex Madaga) away when they had the capacity to provide healthcare".
According to Mr Madaga’s wife Jessica Moraa, the hospital demanded a deposit of Sh200,000 for her husband to be admitted.
When contacted by the Nation, an employee at the hospital requested the writer to call back on Monday morning as the “administration is away".
The organisations including the Health NGOs Network have also asked MPs to “accelerate” and pass the draft Health Bill 2014 currently in Parliament.
They say among other things, the Bill states that private and public hospitals have an obligation to provide emergency services and liable to pay a fine of up to Sh3 million should they fail to do so.
According to Ms Moraa, on the night of the accident on Monday October 5, her injured husband was first attended to at Kikuyu Mission hospital who “did all they could to offer first aid to him but asked that he be transferred elsewhere because they did not have the specialised treatment for the injuries.”
He was rushed to Nairobi Women’s Hospital at Adams Arcade.
The hospital confirmed Mr Madaga was taken to their facility but they did not have an ICU bed to admit him and asked he be taken elsewhere.
The private ambulance drove them to KNH at around 11pm Monday night but he was not admitted because there was no ICU bed available.
He was admitted on Tuesday at 5.30pm after a bed was secured according to the referral hospital.
The civil society groups, however, acknowledged that KNH is overwhelmed and stretched by patients from all the 47 counties who seek for health services from the facility.
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