Nairobi News

The giant doctors’ union has poked holes into the story of a Kenya woman who claimed she was mistreated by doctors and nurses when she went to give birth at an unidentified hospital.

The woman, who goes by the name Mama Boo Boo‏ (@ChantellePetit) on Twitter, shared her story on Monday and Tuesday claiming that she was mistreated by doctors and nurses, something that resulted in fistula and other complications.

Her narration on Twitter shocked many Kenyans who asked other women to be extra-cautious while in maternity rooms.

“For those who don’t know my story (a thread): I gave birth on the 1st of January 2019 to a beautiful baby girl completely unaware of what the following days had in store for us both. Both Boo Boo and I had complications for a whole month,” started Mama Boo Boo.

She goes on to say that when she arrived at the hospital she found that her gynecologist was on leave and that there were only two available specialists.

NO WASTING TIME

According to her, they wanted to take her to the emergency room for examinations to find out whether she was in labour but she refused because she knew that she was in labour and “did not want to waste time”.

It is then that she picked a quarrel with the receptionist who according to her realized she was indeed in labour.

This version of her story, however, got the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) poking holes into her account.

“How did a receptionist realise that you were in labour? Labour is a diagnosis of examination by a qualified medical professional. Kenyans must limit cases of medical drama in order that we can discuss quality care delivery genuinely,” KMPDU stated as it retweeted her tweet.

However, the KMPDU tweet was pulled down 30 minutes later.

From the receptionist desk, the victim claims she was then taken to the maternity ward on the sixth floor of the hospital.

The doctor then went to her bed and examined her private parts with the aim of finding out how far she had dilated.

She said that the worst part of it all is that the doctors just “put their fingers in the private parts (with gloves) & depending on how many fingers can fit, they get an estimate of how many cms a woman has dilated.”

WOMEN WITH THEIR OWN DOCTORS

She said that she was also shocked that on the fateful day a number of women had also visited the facility to give birth. There were about 80 but 20 had their own doctors, she said.

This means that 60 women were in the same facility and were expecting the two available doctors to assist them in delivering their babies.

She said that her deposit was paid and file opened about an hour and a half later and that she was later informed that she could have to wait for over five hours for the delivery to take place.

Reason? The hospital had only two operational theatres.

She said what  hurt her most is that she had to wait for that long even after she was told that her case was an emergency.

The woman said that she suffered in pain as she waited for her turn to give birth.

“The pain was unbearable. I begged for an epidural countless times but I couldn’t get one. My family took turns comforting me in the delivery room until my sister who volunteered to be in the room with me arrived,” she said.

She sadly narrates that all that time the doctor only kept walking into where she was sleeping then “stick his fingers into her private parts to check dilation.”

CORRECT FISTULA

The doctor went on doing it until her private parts became so painful to an extent that she asked the doctor to stop. In the end she gave birth but had to undergo three painful and expensive surgeries to correct a fistula condition she picked up during birth.

Read the full thread below:

For those who don’t know my story (a thread):

I gave birth on the 1st of January 2019 to a beautiful baby girl completely unaware of what the following days had in store for us both.

Both Boo Boo and I had complications for a whole month.#MaternalNegligenceKE

— Mama Boo Boo (@ChantellePetit) April 8, 2019