Kenya’s top doctors’ union has taken issue with the decision to shut down a branch of Chiromo Hospital, following the controversial death of Toto Touch CEO Susan Kamengere Njoki while under its care.
Davji Atellah, Secretary General of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), called out the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) for what he termed a rash and poorly thought-out move.
Reacting shortly after the closure was announced, Atellah took to X (formerly Twitter), where he accused the council of acting emotionally and putting patients at risk by ordering an immediate evacuation from the facility.
"This is immature and reactionary," he wrote. "Where are these patients supposed to go? When patients were killed at KNH, no one shut the place down. What’s happening here?"The backlash comes after KMPDC ordered the Chiromo branch in Lavington to cease operations and evacuate all patients amid public pressure and a disturbing autopsy report showing Njoki died from manual strangulation.
In a statement, the council said it had launched investigations into the circumstances of Njoki’s death and needed the branch closed to allow for a thorough probe and necessary corrective action.
But Atellah pointed to what he sees as double standards, recalling two murders that took place inside Kenyatta National Hospital both involving patients found with their throats slit. Despite those incidents, the hospital was never closed or evacuated.
Njoki’s final days have been widely discussed online after she shared chilling voice notes and a Facebook post detailing how she was allegedly forcefully taken from her home and injected with an unknown substance by two nurses, accompanied by two men.
She said she had previously been treated for depression but was on the mend.
She had even landed an interview with an international firm, which she was set to attend just before her death.
Investigations are still underway to uncover what really happened to her death and the actions of the hospital staff are ongoing.