VIP patient at Nairobi Hospital triggers media frenzy
The identity of the influential person who was rushed to Nairobi Hospital on Wednesday evening remained a mystery on Thursday, with the hospital refusing to comment on the matter in honour of doctor-patient confidentiality.
Staff at the hospital, who spoke off the record, on Thursday described the patient as “a red blanket” case, indicating the gravity of the situation.
The term “red blanket” is used in emergency lingo to refer to rapid transfer protocol measures where a patient is taken from the ambulance directly to the operating theatre, by-passing triage procedures.
It is only used in critical life-and-death situations.
The patient was taken to the VIP part of the hospital, described on its website as having 12 suites made up of three presidential, six premier and three deluxe suites, all of which are “ICU-ready”.
NO RECORDS
Due to the doctor-patient confidentiality, we could not authoritatively establish the nature of the visit to the facility.
The high-status patient was not logged in the hospital records.
The mystery triggered a social media frenzy as Kenyans tried to identify the patient.
On Wednesday evening, there was a heavy security cordon at the hospital that denied vehicles access to a small portion of the facility.
The security detail was withdrawn a few hours later.
On Thursday morning, however, was a deep contrast as the hospital seemed to have gone back to its normal, calm nature.
This incident has brought to the light the growth of health care systems in Kenya targeted at what the industry refers to as “pavilion patients”, where high-profile individuals get first-class medical care at a premium cost.