Protests as ‘neglected’ patient dies

By Peter Atsiaya

A patient who died unattended to after five hours at the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital was left lying on a bench for another three hours.

The management is yet to comment on the incident, which sparked protests from patients and their relatives.

Hospital Administrator Juliana Otieno is said to have held a crisis meeting with senior staff over the matter.

The patient allegedly died lying on a bench at casualty wing.

Mr John Odhiambo’s relatives claimed he succumbed to chest pains after hospital workers took too long to attend to him.

When The Standard reached her on the telephone, Dr Otieno declined to comment, claiming she was held in a meeting.

The deceased had been brought to the facility by his wife Jacqueline Auma on Saturday.

"I brought him to the hospital at 8am while walking in pain. He was not attended to unti l1pm when he succumbed while lying on the bench," Auma said.

She added: "He died while I watched helplessly. There was nothing I could do as I watched Odhiambo take his last breath."

The body of the deceased remained on the bench for more than three hours until police took it to the hospital’s mortuary.

The incident brought business to a standstill, prompting police intervention. There was drama as patients and the deceased’s relatives threatened to beat up a security officer who tried to bar The Standard team from taking pictures at the hospital.

Security guards had difficulty controling the protests.

Police from the nearby Kondele Police Station were called in to restore order.

They restrained the protestors from storming into the office of the clinical officer on duty to the nurse in charge to beat them up.

Ms Helen Oyuga, a patient, claimed medical staff on duty ignored them and kept them waiting unattended to for hours.

"The nurse was arrogant. She said they were only dealing with emergency cases, which were not there at the time," she added.

Oyuga said patients seeking treatment on weekends are subjected to suffering as medical staff denies them treatment.

Patients also accuse nurses of arrogance when handling patients. The nurse on duty snubbed journalists who sought her comment on the patients’ claims.