Police urged to hasten probe into death of KCSE candidate

By Enock Okong’o

Residents of Kochia village in Homa Bay county have asked the police to hasten investigations into the death of a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) candidate shortly after giving birth.

Velma Anita Ochieng, the 19-year-old candidate at Nyajanja Mixed Secondary school died on Monday, September 28 at Homa Bay Teaching and Referral Hospital.

According to her aunt, Shellah Ayaga, the expectant candidate started experiencing labour pains on Sunday and was rushed to the hospital for safe delivery.

“Velma was in severe pains when she was admitted at the maternity ward,” reported the aunt.

Ayaga narrated how her family members persuaded the doctors to urgently attend to Velma but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

She accused the hospital staff of negligence and appealed to the authorities to probe them.

According to the hospital CEO Dr. Peter Ogolla, the medical examination report showed that the deceased was in the early stages of labour pains when she died.

He exonerated his staff from blame saying that they discharged their duties diligently as they put the patient in bed and monitored her progress after every four hours.

In a report from the doctor who attended to her, the cesarean surgery on Velma was successful and she was returned to the ward with her baby.

He said that she later complained of abdominal pains and was given pain killers.

“Medics discovered high blood pressure which they tried to stabilize but it was all in vain as her vital organs weakened very quickly,” confirmed Dr. Ogolla.

He declined to comment on the cause of the death until postmortem was done to ascertain the exact cause of death.

Homa Bay County Governor Gladys Wanga was among the first leaders to send a message of condolence to the bereaved family.