Kiambu County accuses KMPDU of inflating newborn death figures

Kiambu County has accused the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) of exaggerating reports of new-born deaths in the county amid the ongoing doctors’ strike.

In a Tuesday interview with NTV, the county's Chief Officer for Health Services, Patrick Nyagah, said the figures released by the union were “alarmist and inaccurate,” claiming that the reported numbers had been deliberately inflated to create panic.

“A single death is a matter of concern. But when we look at these alarmist numbers, we find that in every category, they have doubled the figures. Where you find 16, it was something like eight. Where you find six, it’s something like three. There is malice in adding numbers where they don’t exist,” he said.

According to him, some of the cases included in the tally involved patients who were brought to hospitals already dead.

“The numbers that we are dealing with at this point are definitely equal and similar to the numbers we had last year when we didn’t have strikes. The strike does not affect the numbers,” he stated.

Dr Nyagah said even under normal circumstances, referral hospitals record neonatal deaths due to the nature of cases they handle.

“Even when we don’t have strikes or disputes, we still have some losses through referral centres. However, somebody picked those numbers, added them, and made it look like it’s an issue of the last three months,” he said.

Citing Thika Level V Hospital, he said KMPDU had reported 36 new-born deaths in September, while county records showed only 11.

“That is three times the number. And the 11 is still not synthesised to the level of what responsibility was the death. Remember, Thika Level V is a referral centre. Anyone who comes there, bodies brought in, very sick children from other hospitals, and new births, are all registered,” he explained.

Nyagah said the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) had written to the county on Monday evening and would be visiting Thika and Kiambu Level V hospitals to verify the data.

KMPDU has been very critical of Governor Kimani Wamatangi’s administration, citing failure by the county government to resolve a protracted standoff that has now stretched for over three months.

The union accuses the administration of ignoring a return-to-work agreement signed last year and of neglecting the suffering of residents who have borne the brunt of the health crisis.

On Monday, the union also criticized the Council of Governors (CoG) for what an “indifferent and heartless” handling of the crisis, accusing the county bosses of trivialising the deaths of 131 newborns.

KMPDU’s secretary-general, Davji Atellah, said the union was “deeply shocked and outraged” by the CoG’s dismissal of the reports as “pure mischief” and “false publication.”