A pregnant woman who was turned away from Kitengela sub-county hospital for not having Sh1,000 gave birth on a roadside in Noonkopir on Wednesday.
Mary Wanjiro, who was expecting her second child, said she gave birth to a dead child after undergoing excruciating pain from Tuesday night when she reported 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 said she walked home to Noonkopir after she was chased out at 10 am but on approaching her home, she lost energy and was forced to sleep on the roadside.
She said that on going down, 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 that she could identify all the nurses who talked to her on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
By the time of going to the press at 5 pm, the body of the infant was still lying next to the woman on the Noonkopir road.
Wanjiro said the police were called at midday but by 4.30 pm, they had not turned up.
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