Senate wants to know KNH doctor who received Baby Travis after fork-jembe injury

Judy Muthoni, the mother of 2-year-old baby Travis Maina on Monday appeared before the Senate Health Committee, to narrate events that lead to the death of her son at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

At the Senate, Muthoni took the committee through her son’s journey in seeking medical attention after a fork-jembe was lodged in his head at their Kiambu home.

She told the senators that his son was rushed to a local dispensary where the handle of the jembe was removed, and thereafter taken to Thika Level 5 hospital.

Doctors at the Thika-based hospital said they could not attend to Baby Travis and referred him to the Kenyatta National Hospital.

At KNH, Muthoni’s family not only waited for hours for the baby to be admitted but were also subjected to harsh treatment.  

“The first doctor we encountered at KNH shouted at me and asked me to pay Ksh.20,500 before Travis could be attended to,” Muthoni’s sister Lucy told the Senators.

The Senate committee is now in pursuit of all medical practitioners who attended to baby Travis.

Kiambu Senator Karungo Thang’wa said their investigations will begin with the local medical practitioner who attended to the baby before he was taken to Thika Level 5 Hospital.

He said that the intention is to establish whether he is a qualified health practitioner and if he removed the wooden handle from the jembe appropriately without causing more harm to the patient.

Senator Chimera, a member of the committee also argued that Thika Level 5 hospital has an ICU unit which should have been able to attend to baby Travis before referring him to KNH.

The committee’s chair Senator Jackson Mandago said that they will pursue all medics and hospitals who attended to baby Travis.

Mandago said the committee will meet the Thika Level 5 hospital leadership, Kiambu Health Ministry and also go to KNH to conduct investigations.

“We know parents might not remember the identity of doctors who attended to the baby but we will know when we go to Kenyatta. We will follow with KNH leadership, they cannot say they do not know them,” Mandago said.

The Uasin Gishu Senator added that the committee seeks to find out whether the patient was attended to during his transfer from Thika to KNH.

“The law says two nurses should accompany a patient, we want to know whether nurses accompanied him. It is the responsibility of nurses to ensure when a patient is referred, they are received and properly transferred and documented. There must be documents that show that the patient was revealed,” he said.

Mandago asked the family to be patient as the committee unravels events that lead to the 2-year-old baby’s death.

“We regret what happened and want to wish you God’s strength as you go through this.”  

"In theatre, the patient developed complications and resuscitation attempts were futile," the hospital said in a statement on October 12.