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Never Take Your Patient To St Francis Community Hospital, Kasarani: A Heartbreaking Account Of Medical Negligence And Corporate Greed

BY Soko Directory Team · October 5, 2024 10:10 am

The medical facility you entrust with the life and well-being of a loved one is expected to embody care, professionalism, and above all, humanity.

Unfortunately, our ordeal at St. Francis Community Hospital in Kasarani proved that not all hospitals meet these fundamental expectations. The trauma, pain, and negligence we experienced demand a public outcry and immediate accountability from the management of the hospital.

Below is a retelling of my story — one that should serve as a stern warning to anyone considering taking their patient to this facility.

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It all began on a typical Saturday night, with a phone call no family wants to receive: a serious motorbike accident had occurred. Our loved one had sustained a deep cut on the head and was unconscious. With panic setting in, we rushed to St. Francis Community Hospital after being transferred from another inadequate facility, St. John’s Community Hospital in Githurai. Little did we know, our troubles were far from over.

Upon arriving at St. Francis Community Hospital, the emergency situation was evident — a deep head wound, unconsciousness, and time running out. However, instead of receiving immediate medical attention, we were faced with an unforgivable delay. The hospital staff flatly refused to perform first aid until we paid for admission and services upfront.

The horror of watching a loved one lying helpless as bureaucratic protocols took precedence over human life is beyond words. We stood there in disbelief as precious minutes slipped away — time that could have been spent saving a life was instead wasted in a long queue to make payments.

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After 30 agonizing minutes, we finally managed to pay Ksh 2,000 for admission and Ksh 8,430 for a CT scan. Only then did the hospital staff take the patient in, dressing the wound and wheeling her into the CT scan room. The CT scan revealed the next steps, but the wait for a surgeon stretched until the following morning, when the patient regained some consciousness at around 5 a.m. For her to be admitted into the surgical ward, another Ksh 20,000 had to be paid. The cycle of payment before treatment continued as though the life at stake was secondary to the hospital’s thirst for money.

But the negligence we encountered did not end there. That Sunday, the surgeon who was supposed to review the CT scan results and attend to the patient failed to show up. Instead, the surgeon only appeared on Monday, and without thorough examination, declared the patient fit for discharge. This hasty decision left us perplexed, given the patient’s still-weak state and the severity of the injuries. We pleaded for an open referral letter, expressing our concern that we might need to seek further treatment elsewhere. The hospital grudgingly complied but showed no sense of responsibility for the patient’s future care.

As fate would have it, our worst fears came true. Later that day, the patient began to experience difficulty in controlling her mouth. It was an alarming sign that all was not well. In desperation, we rushed to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), only to be told that a neurosurgeon would not be available until Tuesday. With no time to waste, we headed to Uhai Neema Hospital for immediate attention. What we discovered next will forever haunt us.

Uhai Neema Hospital revealed that St. Francis had committed an unforgivable act of negligence. They had merely covered the deep head wound with a dressing without properly cleaning or stitching it. To our horror, sand and debris from the accident were still embedded in the wound. The staff at Uhai Neema immediately cleaned the wound, removed the dirt, and stitched it afresh. To think that our loved one had been sent home by St. Francis Hospital with an untreated wound, all while being charged exorbitant fees, is a shocking testament to the hospital’s gross negligence.

The dangers posed by such carelessness cannot be overstated. Failure to properly treat a head injury can lead to infections, permanent damage, or even death. St. Francis Community Hospital, by prioritizing payments over patient care and by discharging a critically injured patient without proper treatment, violated the very core of medical ethics. They put our loved one’s life in grave danger and added unnecessary trauma to an already horrific experience.

The law is clear about the duties of medical professionals in emergencies. According to the Health Act of Kenya (2017), every person has the right to emergency medical treatment, which includes prompt care in life-threatening situations regardless of the patient’s ability to pay upfront. St. Francis Hospital blatantly disregarded this law by forcing us to pay before administering basic first aid. Furthermore, their failure to properly treat the wound and ensure comprehensive follow-up care constitutes medical negligence, a breach of both legal and ethical responsibilities.

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St. Francis Community Hospital has broken the trust of the public. They failed not just in their medical duties, but in their moral obligations to care for human lives. Their conduct reveals a disturbing corporate culture where profit supersedes the Hippocratic Oath and where the lives of patients are bartered for cash. Such a facility must be held accountable — they owe the patient and her family an apology, financial compensation, and an immediate review of their policies.

As it stands, St. Francis Community Hospital is not a place where anyone seeking proper medical attention should go. The hospital’s actions were reckless, life-threatening, and legally questionable. This type of negligence endangers not just individual patients, but the entire community that might one day walk through its doors in need of urgent care.

We demand that the hospital publicly acknowledges its failures. They must apologize for the negligence that jeopardized our loved one’s life, compensate for the financial and emotional trauma inflicted upon the family, and commit to making substantive changes in their operations. Without such steps, St. Francis Community Hospital will remain a ticking time bomb — an institution that poses more harm than healing.

To the public, we offer this story as a warning: never take your patient to St. Francis Community Hospital. Do not risk their life in the hands of a facility that has proven it cares more for your money than your well-being. This is not a hospital — it is a place of gross indifference and perilous incompetence. Choose safety. Choose life. Avoid St. Francis Community Hospital at all costs.

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Soko Directory is a Financial and Markets digital portal that tracks brands, listed firms on the NSE, SMEs and trend setters in the markets eco-system. Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/SokoDirectory and on Twitter: twitter.com/SokoDirectory

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