19 October 2022

• Baby Travis died after hours of being admitted at Kenyatta National hospital.

• He was accidentally struck with a fork jembe by one of his siblings.

Baby Travis, who died after being dug with a fork Jembe will be laid was laid to rest on Tuesday at their home in Kiambu County.

Days ago the grief-stricken mum had asked for financial help to be able to give her son a befitting sendoff.

Kenyans came through for her in a big way as the family was able to raise Ksh 500,000 in less than a day.

Travis Maina was only a few months away from his 3rd birthday and was the last-born son of Judy Muthoni.

The three siblings were playing under a mango tree just outside their house when their uncle Hussein Njau heard a scream from one of the older boys, who said Travis had been hit on the head.

Njau rushed baby Travis to the nearest dispensary but nothing much could be done as it was on a holiday.

"We sought help from a local doctor who owns a pharmacy in the area.

He detached the long wooden handle from the fork jembe so that we could fit in his small car, and he then rushed us to Thika Level 5 Hospital,” Njau said in an interview with Nation

One of Muthoni's three boys hit their youngest brother with a fork Jembe.

Sadly the 29-year-old mum was not at home at the time of the accident.

“My son was talking all through. His last request was water,” says Muthoni, her face lined in grief.

Maina was playing with his two brothers aged eight and six years when the accident happened.

He died hours after being admitted at KNH leading to an uproar over what many termed as negligence.

According to the hospital management, the child had already lost a lot of blood preventing clotting- delaying the surgical procedure.

"We wish to assure members of the public as follows: The patient had lost a lot of blood and as a result, the clotting process was not occurring as expected, thereby, delaying the surgical procedure as this would have been dangerous to the patient. The patient has since been stabilized and is currently undergoing a delicate operation in KNH theatres. We thank you for your concern and we assure you that the child is under the best care by our teams," the statement said.

The statement was issued following viral reports that a child had been admitted to the facility with a fork lodged in his skull after being stranded at the casualty for over 24 hours without proper help.

Kenyans came out in large numbers to call out KNH over what they termed as negligence.