Patients at Awendo Hospital

Migori county health department as termed the story done by media outlets of patients at Rongo District Hospital sharing a ward with dead body as “exaggerated.”

The story was aired by local FM stations including Migori News after patients complained on Friday.
Health Chief Officer Dalmas Oyugi in a statement sent by Public Information Officer Otieno Sije said the delay on collecting the body was caused by relatives who arrived late.

“It was largely exaggerated, The person passed on at 3am and was unclaimed and relatives only showed up at noon. The body was immediately transferred to Migori referral hospital mortuary,” the statement said.

One of the patient care taker expressed fear and discomfort for having a dead body next to his patient for several hours.

“We were never at ease in this room since this person died and its body was not collected promptly causing trauma,” said Peter Owino who was nursing his cousin on the adjacent bed.

Speaking to Rongo medical officer of health Ruwa Mwatelah at his office he attributed this to lack of government mortuary nearby and the logistics involved.

Mwatela said that there is only one morgue in the entire county, at Migori referral hospital which is several kilometers away and notification to the diseased person has been a hindrance.

“We always release bodies from hospital beds to any mortuary when there are people concerned. We feel for the affected patients but the Ministry is yet to build mortuaries,” Mwatela said.

He however said that Migori county is facing several challenges like only one mortuary in Migori and only two operational ambulances.

He said they often beg for ambulances to transfer referral cases and bodies from nearby institutions like Rongo University.

But the earlier statement insisted Migori has seven functioning ambulances across the county.