By Albert Nyakundi Amenya aka The Banana Peddler
You see, Kenyans are really funny. They blame the wrong person for another’s mistake. Take Kenyatta National Hospital case for instance. It is reported that brain surgery was conducted on the wrong person. This is a serious medical error that must be condemned by every right-thinking man and woman.
These errors have been reported all over the world. CNN reported that a surgeon removed kidney from the wrong person.Read it here
However, when such errors occur, someone must take responsibility.
A hospital has professionals employed to carry out their duties as trained. When a doctor is employed, a CEO does not police-mark them when performing their duties. They know what to do because that is what they are trained to do. If it is nurses, they take instructions from doctors and carry out their duties as trained.
When the nurse injects the patient with wrong medication, that nurse takes responsibility. When the nurse injects a patient wrongly thus causing complications, the nurse takes responsibility for negligence. You cannot blame the CEO for a mistake committed by a professional.
When the operation is taking place in Kenyatta National Hospital, the CEO is not there to dictate doctors on what they were trained to do. In fact, in most cases she is not aware of the operation because the hospital serves more than 20,000 people per day. Common sense dictates that CEO Lily Koros cannot be around to supervise each and every activity going on in the hospital.
Before a surgery takes place, doctors know what to do. They work under the dictate of the Hippocratic Oath they took. They know how to identify patients. It is not the work of the CEO to come and confirm to them that this is the right person to be operated on. A brain operation is a sensitive procedure that should be done keenly.
If a surgeon made a mistake to operate on the wrong person, he and his team should take responsibility and explain what happened. If people were switched, they should find out who did it and take action against him/her. The name of CEO Lily Koros should NOT feature anywhere near that snafu, the same way it did not feature when the same doctors were showered with saintly praises for reattaching the hand of a man.
When doctors do well, the Chief Executive Officer’s name does not feature anywhere. How come when the same doctors blunder, the name of the CEO is dragged into the mess? Why are some people quick to point fingers at her and blame her even before investigation finds her culpable?
So, if a Cabinet Secretary steals money or messes up, the President resigns? If adult mans takes it to robbery with violence should the parent be punished for the child’s mistake? This is just preposterous.
The CEO did what she was supposed to do, suspend the people who were in charge of where things went wrong pending investigation. Asking her to resign is just devilish and idiotic because she cannot be all over the hospital to supervise each and every activity.
albertamenya@yahoo.com
(The writer sells Bananas in the streets of Kisii County)
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