When hospitals are no longer secure havens

The attack by a patient on fellow patients at a hospital in Nanyuki has turned the spotlight on safety in health facilities given past incidents, including the brazen killing of a patient by a gunman in Mwingi in 2016.

As is the case with most hospitals, the men’s general ward at the Nanyuki Teaching and Referral hospital is lined with rows of beds with patients suffering from different health conditions.

On the fateful Friday, the patients in the ward included Roney Maingi Mutuma, a 42-year-old man receiving treatment for diabetes and another man the hospital only identified as Paul.

Violent behaviour

Paul, 48, was admitted to the referral hospital on January 23, and was receiving treatment for epilepsy and high blood pressure.

According to witness accounts and a report by Dr Lenai Kamario, the County Health Executive, at 11.30pm on Friday, Paul suddenly started exhibiting violent behaviour, which was characterised by attacks on staff on duty and other patients.

Even though Dr Kamario insists response by security personnel was swift, the fact that one person died paints a different picture.

By the time security personnel and police finally restrained Paul, he had already attacked six patients and two nurses.

The other patients told the management that Paul first attacked a nurse with a drip stand. When Mutuma noticed this, he went over to save the nurse and Paul hit him on the head with the stand. The other casualties sustained injuries in the confrontation that followed.

Paul seriously injured Mutuma, who, according to Dr Kamario, later died as health workers attended to him.

A witness, however, says Mutuma died instantly.

“As an institution, we met with the security team and Paul’s relatives after the incident. We convey sincere condolences to the family and wish quick recovery to the staff and patients injured during the incident,” Dr Kamario signed off the statement.

The Standard has learnt that the attacker has a history of psychiatric disorder and had been in and out of hospital for the past 10 years.

He is, however, still at the hospital with the county executive noting that he will be examined by a psychiatrist. His relatives told The Standard that he had been on regular medical checks.

At face value, Mutuma’s death in a hospital from causes different from what got him admitted in the first place seems isolated.

However, on digging deeper, it becomes clear that the attack is a portrayal of a bigger and more worrying picture, where hospitals are increasingly proving to be unsafe spaces for both patients and health workers.

In the past few years, there have been a series of attacks on patients and medical personnel in healthcare setups, places that are supposed to safeguard patients and be safe working environments for personnel.

On January 2 this year, a couple attacked a nurse at Nairobi South Hospital, when the nurse demanded that the couple sign an ‘Against Medical Advice’ form. The couple was allegedly demanding that their child, who had not fully recovered, be discharged, against the advice of the medical personnel.

On the morning of October 13, 2018, Mildred Akinyi, a nurse at the Kenyatta National Hospital, was assaulted by five relatives – a woman and four men – of a 17-year-old patient who had been battling leukemia.

Four dead

It was also at KNH that Cosmas Mutunga, a cancer patient who formerly served as a procurement officer for a hotel, was violently murdered on November 29, 2015, having stayed at the hospital since November 8 the same year.

Reports showed that Mutunga was found dead in his hospital bed, stabbed 42 times and his eyes gouged out.

The only witness to the murder was a 12-year-old boy who cannot speak or hear.

In August 2016, a gunman sneaked into Mwingi Level IV Hospital at 3am and shot dead Ngandi Malia Musyemi, a 27-year-old man.

Musyemi was admitted to the hospital after four gunmen carjacked him, shot and dumped him in a bush. [Additional reporting by Jacinta Mutura]