The Kenyatta National Hospital.[Photo/Nation]
The Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Kenya has followed with great concern and is deeply troubled by the emerging reports highlighting horrific incidences of sexual abuse at Kenyatta National Hospital for nursing mothers admitted therein. Kenyatta National Hospital is the biggest and largest referral hospital in the country if not in East Africa.
Patients and especially mothers should expect and experience the highest standard of care and must feel protected while they are their vulnerable stages in life as inpatients. Outright denial and immediate dismissal of the said incidences by the hospital’s management without conducting preliminary investigations into the matter is worrying.
FIDA Kenya firmly believes that this particular trend is attributed to several factors which require urgent fixing by the Government who hold the duty of care to Kenyans to ensure and guarantee their safety at all times.
Sadly, the Kenyatta hospital incident is not an isolated case, which raises pertinent issues on the safety of women in public health care facilities. FIDA Kenya maintains that these shameful acts are an outright violation of our women’s dignity and the right to lead a decent life and a violation of their constitutional entitlement to the highest attainable standard of reproductive health as guaranteed under Article 43(1) (a). Hospitals should be safe places where our mothers should be able to move around without fear of intimidation and abuse.
To this end, FIDA Kenya calls upon the Government to move with speed and ensure that it guarantees Kenyan women protection and safety at all times in all public hospitals around the Country and to ensure that service delivery is not compromised at any level in and out of the hospital for whatever reason.
FIDA Kenya calls upon the Government and more so the management of Kenyatta National Hospital to;1. Speedily but efficiently investigate these claims and ensure that the culprits are brought to book.2. To take up its responsibility of enforcing and beefing up security in Kenyatta National Hospital and its surroundings and other public hospital facilities.3. Inform the public on what measures it is undertaking to investigate these claims and ensure that the same is not repeated.
Overall, FIDA Kenya believes that the government MUST establish a health care system that is responsive based on principles of equity, efficiency, sound governance, internationally recognized service delivery guidelines & standards, respectful care, community engagement, evidence based research and advocacy.
FIDA Kenya envisions a society that upholds and respects women`s rights in a bid to promote women`s individual and collective power to claim their rights in all spheres of life. In line with its vision and mission, FIDA Kenya commits to support the women that have gone through these ordeals through Legal Aid support, counseling and ensure that access to justice is availed to them. We call upon any woman who has been victim of these atrocities to approach our offices to enable us offer support accordingly. These matters will be treated with the highest level of confidentiality that they deserve
Thank you.
Josephine Mong`areChairperson FIDA Kenya