Judy Muthoni is the mother to 2-year-old Travis Maina who lost his life after failing to receive proper treatment from Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) medics. She cries every time she recounts the events of that fateful Monday public holiday.

According to Ms. Muthoni, her children (6 years, 8 years and 2 years) were out playing under a mango tree in their compound. One of them hit his youngest brother, Travis Maina with a fork jembe which ended up firmly lodged in his skull, eventually leading to hemorrhage and death.

One of the children then screamed which alerted their uncle Hassan Njau who rushed to the scene to find baby Travis with a fork jembe in the head.

”I jumped on a motorbike and rushed Maina to Ndula Dispensary, but unfortunately, nothing was happening there, since Monday was a public holiday.” Said Hassan Njau

“So 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,” he said.

When the events were unfolding in their small compound at Ndula Village, Thika East in Kiambu County, their mother, Judy Muthoni was not present. She was called and later she joined Njau and her son at Thika Level V hospital.

Ndula is a remote village, with no public transport to and from the Nairobi-Garissa highway, and most of the residents are casual laborers at fruit juice processor Del Monte.

The lack of public transport makes it very hard for villagers to get instant healthcare in case of an emergency.

The doctors at Thika Level V hospital referred the family to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) as they lacked special equipment to carry out the necessary procedure of dislodging the jembe from the skull.

”Thika Level 5 Hospital administered first aid to my son and later called an ambulance that took us to Kenyatta National Hospital. We arrived at Kenyatta at 6.35 pm. We were asked to pay Sh1,260, which my sister Lucy Wambui paid,” Muthoni says, just a day after her son died.

”After paying the amount, we were told to pay an additional Sh20,500. We told them we could not raise the amount. After we failed to raise the amount, we spent Monday night and part of Tuesday morning at the Casualty, where my son died while waiting to be admitted and taken to the theatre in the afternoon,” the mother explains.

She says that baby Travis had been talking despite suffering a lot of pain from the head injury.

How Boy aged 2 died with fork jembe lodged in skull at KNH

The pensive mother of two blames the hospital for the death of her son claiming that the doctors and nurses were negligent to attend to her case.

She says that despite being poor, they should have accorded her motherly decency and saved her child’s life after which she would work to repay her debt to the hospital.

”I blame them for the death of my son. They were more concerned about me raising Sh20,500 to secure a bed than saving my son. I paid the price for being poor. My son was talking all through. His last request was water. I watched my son die because I did not have money. From Monday evening to Tuesday afternoon (we were) at Kenyatta National Hospital Casualty without being admitted.”

Ms. Muthoni revealed that her casual job earns her Sh. 300 daily, and the job is not consistent.

KNH has since declined claims of negligence saying that they tried their best to save the patient’s life.

“The patient arrived at Kenyatta National Hospital at 6.30 pm but the circumstances and timing of the injury remained unclear. He was received at the Accident and Emergency Department and our team, including the consultant neurosurgeons, immediately commenced treatment and investigations to determine the safest management approach.” Read their statement

“At Kenyatta National Hospital, the patient was received in the critical care unit for immediate stabilization and surgery.”

Judy Muthoni refuted these claims saying that the hospital only administered first aid at Casualty and that Travis died before even being taken to the theatre for surgery.

“I would greatly appreciate getting justice for my son. If I had money, my son would not have died because I would have taken him to another hospital to save his life,” Muthoni says.