By Agwanda Powerman
Tow children aged between one and two years who had 60% burns died last week at the New Nyanza Provincial General Hospital children’s ward number 104 in circumstances the aggrieved feels was negligence on the part of Medical personnel at the hospital who failed to give them drugs and water.
The two were discovered dead after two days after nurses on duty put them on oxygen without caring to know how there condition was later died after their bodies stated smelling.
Across section of patients interviewed said that the nurses are so negligent and real rude as the guardians of the burnt children are made to dress their respective wounds yet they have little or no knowledge of wound dressing.
“These nurses comes to us and throws things at us telling us that we dress the wounds and two, if it were not for their negligence the two children could not have died as despite our pleas that something was wrong they arrogantly told us that they knew what they were doing “one of the patient’s custodian said.
“Surely how can a dead body which was on oxygen are discovered dead after two days? they were never given water nor drugs and our efforts to get them assist the small kids from dying went on deaf ears with them retorting with insults, is this the way they are being taught? “Another asked.
Cross check shows that deaths at the said facilities most have been occasioned by the negligent nurses who have no regard for the patients as they spent most of their times gossiping with no regard to the ailing.
Efforts to get a comment from the facility’s Medical Superintendent Dr.Julia Otieno were fruitless .
60% BURNS IN CHILDREN
60 percent burns in children cannot be considered lightly by any medics. In most cases patients with 60 percents burns, particularly children die because of among other things, the amount of fluids they lose and the large inlet for infections that the damaged skin provides to bacteria. Most patients with burns above 50% rarely survive even under intensive care facilities and they do not die because the medics are careless or negligent.
There is a protocol followed at every hospital as a matter of procedure for handling such cases and the nurses alone are not the only personnel who take care of such patients and this protocol does not depend on the nurses alone.
The fact the the children were put on Oxygen itself means that the burns were pretty serious life-threatening ones. It is easy to blame the nurses whom I am indeed sure did their best to save the lives, besides it might not have been only these two children they were attending to at the time, the Provincial Hospital being a referral one for serious cases. More often than not nurses are blamed rather than thanked for the good work they do.
I have frequently seen relatives of patients falling short of cursing the nurses, not withstanding the good work they do. It is a lot easier to blame other people than to self-criticize.
Just like it is much easier to ”score” balls as a spectator than the actual player in the field those who are not nurses, who are not trained to ”see” into the real function of the nurses at a hospital and with patients must be excused for blaming the nurses since with untrained eyes they cannot see more than that.
I used to think the same way about the nurses till I became a medical doctor. The nurses need to be thanked not blamed for the good work they do, despite the good work they do. As far as I know there are no nurses who celebrate in ”killing” patients much less the children.
DR ODIDA OKUTHE