[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he security of mothers giving birth at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) has been put into question following reports that rogue staff and outsiders masquerading as health workers sexually molest them in the wee hours of the morning when they seek to lactate their babies.
The morgue attendants have been accused of using dead bodies to scare mothers at the maternity wing to abusing them sexually between 3am and just before dawn when they move from their wards to tend to their newborns in the incubation rooms, notwithstanding their condition, some having undergone caesarian section.
A social media user, Mildred Atty Owiso, posted this on a Facebook forum (Buyer Beware-Kenya) where she has editing rights:
“KNH, is a hotspot of thieves and all kinds, from the queue to the lifts, beware. Today, a woman dressed in Christian regalia was caught, red handed with her hands in another ladies bag. Also, security is a big issue, especially for mothers whose kids are in the nursery. Apparently, they need to go breastfeed their babies after every two hours, or so. The nurseries are at the ground floor, and the mothers third floor. Today, met a lady who was nearly raped, when she had gone to breastfeed baby at about 3:00am. Only thing that saved her the ordeal was her voice. She screamed her alleged attacker off.
Never mind, this is someone who had her twins via caesarian, barely even healed. Such vulnerable mothers need protection.
Absurd! KNH, please look onto this matter.”
Most of the reactions were congruent with the user’s claims. In what appears as personal account, users said the claims were not strange to them as they had mothers forced to move in groups of more than five to the babies’ section just to be safe.
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“Rape at KNH hasn’t started today. Those mums with kids in nursery go through mess. They get raped by the mortuary attendants who collect bodies from the wards. When I was admitted they used to go as a group of 7-10 mums. “jaribu kupiga nduru tukufanye mananasi” such a pity kz they treat them like mananasi (dead people),“ reads a comment on the post.
A user, who claims to have to have had a relative delivering at KNH, said the mother informed the family that they had been advised not to use lifts to access the floor where their babies had been transferred to.
The users said the attendants are a threat to the mothers and that even nurses at the facility work in fear of them.
Some, however, questioned what Owiso implied by “christian regalia” despite alleging to have witnessed theft at the hospital on Wednesday. Owiso did not offer any details on the proceeds of the incident.
Women empowerment and rights activist, Rita Mutheu, the CEO of Her Voice, a non-governmental organisation, termed the claims as unfortunate and called for the intervention of First Lady Margaret Kenyatta. Ms Mutheu is absurd that the facility could ask mothers to move in groups so as to be safe rather than having culprits arrested.
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“Not only are there no drugs at the hospital, doctors or machines are always a concern. Now women who have just had babies have to worry about being raped on their way to the nursery to feed their babies. The hospital has the nerve to tell women to walk in groups rather than apprehend the offenders,” Mutheu told Business Today when asked to comment on the matter.
She said the high number of women who had taken to social media to admit having gone through the sex trap at the facility was a clear indication that the claims could not be further from the truth.
She said a nurse, who she declined to name, had told her that the morgue attendants had made them fear being at work during odd working hours.
Kenyatta National Hospital communications boss Simon Ithae confirmed that the facility management was aware of the claims that had been circulated on various social media platforms. Mr Ithae said on phone that he would issue a response on the matter at 2:30pm but one hour later, he could not answer our phone calls.
