By Wesley Koech
Members of the deaf community in Kenya on Monday, 17 February, 2025, expressed their disappointment following the loss of a body of one of their member’s child, who died two weeks ago after a short illness at Nakuru level Five hospital.
The affected member was identified as Mercy Chepng’eno
Led by Nairobi Association for the Deaf chair, Abdi Abdil, the members said that they were blocked from entering the hospital when they went there to seek for answers.
“Truly, we are in pain. There are some people who have children here. My sister lost her baby in this hospital. However, the doctors sent us away arrogantly saying that we should not grieve, since the baby had already died,” Abdile said through an interpreter.
He claimed that they wanted to conduct a final send-off for the baby so that she can rest, but the hospital denied them their quest.
While addressing the claims, Nakuru County Secretary Samuel Mwaura said that they regret not to have found the body pending police investigations.
“The report from the police has indicated that the process of getting the body is ongoing and they have already filed a petition to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP). On our side, as the County Government, we have facilitated the search for the body but haven’t found the baby yet,” he said.
Mwaura said that they are dealing with two key issues related to the case.
One is the internal human resource and the criminal act in the baby’s loss.
“The reality is that we have already invited the police to carry out their investigations because we have admitted that this is a criminal act that has happened here,” he said.
Nakuru Level Five Hospital Medical Superintendent James Waweru regretted that there was confusion among the mortuary attendants.
He said that they have requested the county to suspend them.
