Tana River Senator seeks Senate health probe after pregnant woman dies from snakebite
Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana has accused the county government of neglect after a pregnant woman died from a snakebite at Hola Referral Hospital, which lacked anti-venom, and has sought a Senate health probe.
Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana has accused the county government of neglect and questioned the state of the local health system following the death of a pregnant woman who succumbed to a snake bite after Hola Referral Hospital failed to provide an anti-venom.
The incident, which occurred on November 11, claimed the lives of Lulu Mohamed Hassan and her unborn child.
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According to the senator, the woman was taken to Hola Referral Hospital as an emergency case, but could not be stabilised because the facility did not have anti-venom in stock.
“Lulu Mohamed Hassan, a pregnant woman, was bitten by a snake and rushed to Hola Referral Hospital and is going there as an emergency. Just an anti-venom was required to stabilise that situation. How can a whole hospital, which is a referral hospital, fail to have an anti-venom? How can it be that a pregnant woman who was bitten by a snake goes to a hospital, and there is no anti-venom, and this is a county referral hospital? How can that happen? A county referral hospital lacking a basic anti-venom to control a snake bite,” he noted.
Senator Mungatana said the case illustrated a wider failure in the county’s health services, criticising what he described as a lack of action and concern from Governor Dhadho Godhana and senior health officials.
“We have raised these issues, the county assembly health committee has raised these issues. The assembly health committee has done what they can, and there is no response from the governor, no response from the minister.”
He further said the governor had not visited the bereaved family or addressed the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death.
“She passed away, and the baby also passed away. To date, there is no response from the governor; he has not visited the family, nor has he bothered to go to the hospital to find out what is happening. From the money we gave from the senate, he has allocated Sh1.73 billion to the health sector, and they cannot get an anti-venom. I ask the Senate Health Committee to visit the county because we have a problem with a non-caring governor who does not bother,” said Senator Mungatana
The senator confirmed that he has formally presented the matter to the Senate Standing Committee on Health, calling for an urgent investigation and a visit to Tana River County to assess the state of health services.
He urged national oversight, saying residents were being let down by what he termed “a non-caring and unresponsive county leadership.”
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