The Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) has once again hit the headlines for the wrong reason.
The biggest referral hospital in the country on Thursday admitted that its neurosurgeon, who has since been suspended, conducted a brain surgery on the wrong patient.
Three other staff – a ward nurse, theatre receiving nurse and an anesthetist - have also been suspended over the incident.
The Nairobi based hospital said doctors did not realise the mistake until hours into the surgery when they discovered there was no blood clot in the brain of the man sprawled on the operating table.
Two men had been wheeled into KNH unconscious last Sunday.
One needed head surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain while the other only required nursing and medication to heal a trauma swelling in his head, medically known as closed head injury.
There was a mix-up of identification tags which saw the wrong man wheeled into theatre and his skull opened.
Kenyans were shocked by the news, with some demanding the dissolution of KNH’s board of directors and top management over the recent negative reports from the health facility.
Lawyer Donald Kipkorir said on Twitter: “Dear Hon. Sicily Kariuki, Minister for Health... Kindly dissolve the Board Of Directors & the top Management Of Kenyatta National Hospital, the biggest Hospital in Eastern Africa... The many mishaps are symptomatic of deep Systemic Rot. KNH needs Fresh Start, not Reforms.”
@ItsMutai said: “Lily Koros CEO of Kenyatta National Hospital should have resigned by now If indeed she has a heart. KNH has been run down. It is now the most dangerous hospital in Kenya to visit.”
@Nanjala1 said: “Imagine living in a country where a person can get brain surgery *by mistake* in the largest hospital in the country. That is the state of public hospitals in Kenya.”
“Patient misidentification is a risk every day, especially for lab & radiology tests and surgeries. That’s why there are protocols to follow. It’s like a chain of custody. Teamwork is key. If someone in that chain doesn’t do their part, wrong patients end up on the table,” Dr. Mercy Korir commented.
@Ohta_Ryota wrote: “If you know what it takes for a patient to get to theatre and have their skull opened, the checks, the number of people involved, the forms to be filled etc, you would understand the level of sickening negligence in KNH”
One week ago, a woman sneaked out of the country's largest referral hospital with the two-week-old baby while the mother was being attended to at the facility.
The baby was found in Kawangware after police launched a search for the suspect, who was captured on CCTV cameras.
Last month, KNH was on the spot after some women alleged that they had been sexually harassed by mortuary attendants at the hospital.
Hospital CEO Lily Koros said after investigations into the allegations that no such incident happened at KNH.