“There is a very thin line between life and death,” so the saying goes. Joy, laughter and merry always accompany the birth of new life. However, when it comes to death, sorrow and despair fills the hearts of relatives and friends. The two scenarios presented themselves when 26-year-old Violet Olinga Imosi was referred to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
Ms. Olinga went into labour and required a Ceaserian Section (C-Section) to safely deliver her baby. She was therefore referred to KNH for this specialized operation. This is a story of both sorrow and joy from Kenya’s largest teaching and referral hospital.
Ms. Olinga underwent the C-Section surgery successfully at KNH’S Labour Ward, and delivered a healthy, bouncing baby boy. However, things started going south for the new mother and she was moved to the Intensive Care Unit where she unfortunately lost her life on 10th August 2023.
Speaking to Newsline, Senior Nursing Officer and Team Leader New Born Unit (NBU), Ms. Beatrice Mukhola explained in retrospect the events that led to her and her very able team of caregivers from NBU, that included nurses, doctors and clinicians taking care of Baby Violet Olinga for the next seven months following the sudden and unexpected death of his mother.
“The mother came as a referral case with Preeclampsia and she delivered through C-section and was taken to ICU. On day three, we engaged a social worker attached to NBU who followed up on the case of the mother only to discover she died a day after the delivery,” a sorrowful Ms. Mukhola explained.
However, this sad state of affairs did not stop the NBU team from doing their very best to offer love and motherly care to Baby Violet Olinga for the next seven months as the hospital management through the Social Work Department tried its level best to trace relatives of the late Ms. Olinga to claim her body and raise her infant son.
“We started the baby on formulae milk since he did not have the mother. He was also put on a one-week treatment because he had an infection. He responded very well to the treatment and the infection went away,” she said adding: “Usually in NBU, we name the baby using the mother’s name and that’s why we named him Baby Violet Olinga.
Ms. Mukhola revealed that the boy was admitted at NBU on 9th August, 2023 having been received from the Labour Ward and he had Perinatal asphyxia, and was weighing 2840 grams.
“Baby Violet started attaining major milestones such as sitting at four months under the help of the primary care nurse at NBU, who used to put him in a cartoon box to prop him up using the four walls of the box, to be able to sit himself,” she said.
As the Social Work Department worked overtime to try and trace the kin of Ms. Olinga, the process of placement of Baby Violet in a childrens home was ongoing as it is hospital policy.
Through contact tracing using a copy of Ms. Olinga’s identity card, her parents were traced at their rural home in Ochude Location, Okiludu Sub-location, Teso South Constituency, Busia County.
“The Health Information Department, No. 19, handed to me the file of the late Ms. Olinga. I tactfully perused it page-by-page as I sought to at least get a phone contact. Luckily, I was able to get her Antenatal Clinic attendance booklet and attached to it using a strapping tape was her National Identity Card,” Ms. Emma Karatai, Assistant Chief Medical Social Worker/Team Leader Paediatric Department said.
Through networking Ms. Karatai sent her identity card details to the National Registration Bureau which acted promptly and gave the names of her parents as Emoses Jamo and Rose Amoit.
“I had a candid conversation with a colleague who hails from Busia County indicating that I was trying to trace the late Ms. Olinga family through the local chief and that I needed a phone contact of a chief in Teso South Sub County. As fate would have it, she informed me that her aunt was a Chief in Teso South Location. She informed her aunt of our intention and agreed to be forwarded the late Violet’s ID details as well as the names of her parents. I sent the details through WhatsApp on Friday February 23rd, 2024 at 2.56 pm. The Chief shared the details with the local authority and it went viral in social media platforms,” she said.
“An inner voice naggingly kept telling me that the baby would be raised by his maternal grandparents and forever be a consolation to them in their grief. The conviction was there but I did not know where to start from since my colleagues had tried for over six months to trace the family without any success. I had just been posted at the unit to relieve my colleague who had proceeded on her annual leave,” Ms. Karati revealed.
An officer from one of the children’s homes called Ms. Karati and requested to pick Baby Violet Olinga and take him to the home. She hesitated to hand over the baby and asked for more time to complete her investigations.
The parents were eventually traced and contact was made. On Monday 26th February, ten family members of the late Ms. Violet came to KNH’s NBU to follow up on the mystery of their missing kin. They were referred to the Social Work Department to go and meet Ms. Karatai.
“The parents informed me that they knew about her pregnancy and that the late Ms. Olinga had last visited her home in Teso on July 2023. As was narrated by the late Ms. Olinga’s uncle, Fredrick, his wife used to buy fish from Violet who was a fish monger in Githurai 45 and on two occasions she found her missing from her usual workplace and they informed her parents. Her father travelled to Nairobi in search of his daughter and reported her missing at Manguo Police Station, and later returned to Busia.
The parents provided relevant supporting documents which matched with the ones in KNH’s files, and were able to positively identify the late Ms. Olinga’s body at the Farewell Home. Baby Violet was then handed over to his maternal grandmother on 29th February, 2024 who indicated that they had named him ‘Favor Imosi’.
The grandmother travelled with the baby the following day to Teso, as the grandfather was left behind to sort out the bills in readiness for his daughters’ burial. The body was released on Thursday 14th March, 2024 after NHIF paid part of the bill, and the KNH management waived the remainder of the fees. The interment was carried out on Saturday 16th March, 2024 at Kengatuny village, Teso South Sub County in Busia County.
“I never knew Ms. Violet Olinga when she was alive but God chose me to be part of her final journey in this world and to be the one to unite her baby, Master Favor Imosi, with his maternal grandparents and family where he can be nurtured in a close-knit family,” She concluded.