Daughter of KPA Staff Who Died of Covid-19 Accuses Hospital of Negligence

Brenda Akinyi, the daughter of a Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) staff who succumbed to coronavirus last week has accused the Coast General Hospital of negligence.

Her mother, Ursula Buluma died while undergoing medication at the hospital on April 2nd after she was diagnosed with Covid-19.

Brenda, 42, claims that her mum passed away due to carelessness and negligence of the hospital’s management.

“My mother has been having health complications which she has lived with for years, so when she called me on Wednesday, March 25, to go to her house in Jomvu to take her to hospital, I did not find it strange because it was not the first time I was doing it," Brenda said in an interview with Daily Nation.

She first took her to Bandari Clinic where she was diagnosed with pneumonia and later referred to the Coast General Hospital.

“We went to Mombasa hospital on a KPA ambulance, where my mother was first taken to the emergency section and put on oxygen. However, she was removed from the intensive care unit and taken for what the hospital staff told me was screening, the same day,” Brenda noted.

Medics at the hospital later informed her that her mother had been taken into isolation after she showed Covid-19 symptoms.

Brenda says she visited her mum twice on March 27th and 28th but the next day she was barred from seeing her after her Covid-19 test returned positive. 

“I was devastated. I also demanded to know why my mother was not put on pneumonia treatment at Mombasa hospital as was directed by doctors at Bandari Clinic, but no one gave me an answer," she said.

Buluma died of the virus on April 2nd and was buried the same day. Brenda was taken into isolation at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), Mombasa on March 31st as she had come into contact with her.

"I am yet to grieve. I didn’t see her body, nor attend her burial. I cannot wait for my quarantine days to be over so that I can mourn my mother; I will start wailing at the door," she said.

"I have been in quarantine for 10 days today and I have not exhibited any symptoms. I have been in touch with my children and none of them has exhibited any signs, which leaves me very confused as to why exactly I am here.”

“I have not been given any results from the tests they did before they took me to KMTC and thereafter in this isolation ward. It is very frustrating because I am not aware of my condition. Am I on forced quarantine or under treatment?” She posed.

She says doctors extracted fresh samples from her last Tuesday but she is yet to get her test results.

"I am in a self-contained room staring at the walls the whole day, without anyone to talk to or even an opportunity to bask in the sun," she said.

"I keep counting the number of days left. I cannot wait to leave this place and return to my normal life. I want to mourn my mother, but only after I finish fighting this battle."