A senior health officer at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital has called on Nakuru residents not to shy away from the facility’s maternity department after it was linked to a child disappearance case last week.
Addressing journalists in her office on Thursday, deputy medical superintendent Beatrice Etemesi regretted the fact that for the past few days, expectant mothers were opting for private facilities for their deliveries.
She said that as the management, they were treating the case with the seriousness it deserved, but urged the media and the public against speculations.
“As I pointed out earlier, we have already taken DNA samples from both parents and the dead baby and are awaiting official results from the government chemist before we comment about the issue, there should be no cause for panic or anxiety,” she said.
Etemesi eluded confidence in the county government’s efforts of providing quality and affordable antenatal services to all Nakuru residents citing the modern and up to date equipment at the RVPGH as evidence of their commitment to serve the residents diligently.
“This is a public facility meant to serve all of you regardless of your social class so if you stay away, whom do you expect us to serve?” she posed.
This comes in the wake of revelations that a nurse at the facilities allegedly swapped a couple's baby with a dead one, with the couple insisting that their baby was alive.
“Why did they bring us two dead babies from the mortuary to choose from if it was not just to confuse us?” one Mr Owino, father to the presumed dead baby questioned the RVPGH’s management.