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The Senate has started investigations into circumstances that led to the death of two-year-old Travis Maina while undergoing treatment at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

Maina died on October 11 while undergoing surgery to remove a fork jembe stuck in his head.

The Senate Health Committee, chaired by Jackson Mandago (Uasin Gishu), yesterday questioned Judy Muthoni the mother of the minor and her sister Lucy Muthoni.

Muthoni told the committee that if the hospital had acted immediately after they arrived, her child would not have died.

“In my opinion, KNH did not act swiftly and immediately. They took more time before attending to the baby. If they had acted fast, the boy would not have died,” Muthoni told the senators.

She told the committee that they arrived at KNH at 6.30pm but were not attended to until the following day at 1pm when the baby was taken to the theatre to remove the fork jembe lodged in his head.

According to Muthoni, the doctors at the national referral facility told them not to give the child any food or drink before he was taken to the theatre.

“We sat on plastic chairs carrying the baby for the whole night. The doctor who checked on Travis told us not to give the baby any food or drink until he was taken to the theatre,” she said.

Emergency treatment

Lucy told committee members that the child was first rushed to a chemist from where he was transferred to Thika Level 5 hospital where a scan was performed and he was put on a drip.

According the child’s aunt, after the scan, medics advised Maina’s mother to take him to Kenyatta National Hospital.

“The baby was scanned and then put on a drip. We were then told to take him to Kenyatta National Hospital. The hospital gave us an ambulance. We arrived at KNH at about 6.30pm,” said Lucy.

She told the lawmakers that the child was received at the emergency department but not much was done to him until 10pm when a medic bandaged his head and put him on a drip.

She told the committee that when she went to see the doctor in charge to find out if the child could be given emergency treatment, the medic asked her if she had Sh20,500 for the surgery.

Three hours

Earlier, she said, they had borrowed Sh1,650 for admission.

“I went to see the doctor and found him dusting the table. He asked me if I had Sh20,500 for the surgery. I told him that we didn’t have that kind of money but we just wanted the child to be treated first,” said Lucy.

She told the committee that at 8am the following day, the same doctor came to see the child and told them to prepare him for theatre.

It was not until 1pm, however, that the child was taken to theatre, she revealed.

“We were told to prepare for theatre at 8am, but by 11am nothing had happened. We asked what was happening and we were told that there was another emergency they were working on. We were told to wait.”

Lucy told the committee that after taking the child to the theatre, the surgery took more than two hours and when they asked why it had taken long, they were told to wait for another two hours.

Identify doctor

It was at this point that Muthoni decided to go to town to buy clothes for the child only to receive a call that he had died.

The team will summon all the institutions involved, including the chemist where the child was first taken, Thika Level 5 and KNH.

Mandago said KNH will have to produce the medic in charge at the time the child was taken to the hospital.

“We expected KNH to do better. We will listen to all those involved in this matter. We must get to the bottom of this. We will expect KNH to identify the doctor who was in charge and who asked the mother to pay Sh20,500 before treatment. If they don’t they will be held accountable,” said Mandago.