Bungoma family demands answers after child dies during tonsil surgery

A family in Bungoma is demanding answers after their three-year-old daughter passed away following a surgery at a private hospital.

Leila Mutenyo had been taken for a routine checkup at the Bungoma Children's Hospital but ended up in theatre for adenotonsillectomy, an operation to remove the tonsils and adenoids, and later in the morgue.

The child’s father, Johnson Wafula, says he had taken Leila to the hospital for a medical check-up and does not know how she ended up in the operating room and never came back alive.

According to The Star, the family wants to establish the sequence of events leading to Leila’s death and whether all necessary precautions were taken before she was placed under anaesthesia.

However, the hospital has insisted all protocols were observed and that the child died of after a sudden cardiac arrest during the procedure. The hospital’s director Dr Dickens Lubanga said a post-mortem examination conducted in the presence of a pathologist appointed by the family confirmed the primary cause of death.

"We wish to express our deepest sympathy and sincere condolences to the family. The loss of a young child is a profound tragedy and our entire hospital community shares in their grief," said Dr Lubanga.

Dr Lubanga insists the operation was conducted by an experienced ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) surgeon, who has over 20 years of practice, as well as an anaesthesiologist from a national referral hospital.

Adenotonsillectomy is a paediatric operation, often recommended for children with recurrent tonsillitis, breathing difficulties or sleep problems.

The operation, just like other procedures, is performed under general anaesthesia and carries risks such as adverse reactions to anaesthesia and cardiac complications and therefore, a pre-operative assessment and monitoring is crucial.