Joy as Mandera baby is discharged from Kenyatta Hospital

Baby Dakane being discharged from hospital. (Courtesy)

By Kevin Kyalo

NAIROBI—A 9 month year old baby who was airlifted from Mandera to Nairobi for specialised treatment has finally made full recovery.

Baby Mustaab Dakane who has been receiving treatment at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) developed a problem with the formation of the scalp that allowed the brain to grow on the outside.

“Surgery took about 12hrs where the mass was removed and covered up by the plastic surgeons. There was no major complication apart from extensive blood loss but we had enough blood to give him,” said Dr Susan Nabulindo a Paediatric Anaesthesiologist at KNH.

The Kenya Red Cross Ambulance Emergency Plus Medical Services (E-Plus) shouldered the cost of Sh2.1 million incurred in treatment of Dakane.

The family of the baby had initially given up following the heavy financial implications they would have been subjected to.

Baby Dakane was airlifted to Nairobi on March 20 for specialised treatment after Abdi Hussein Mohammed, a nurse at Mandera Referral hospital, made the appeal after realising the baby was in danger.

Thanks to tireless efforts by neurosurgeons the 9 month old can now live a normal life and go home to his siblings. There was joy at the hospital as the child was being discharged.

Lack of ambulances and specialised doctors to handle critical conditions in far flung areas from Nairobi is putting many vulnerable Kenyan lives at risk.

Mandera county which is part of the fourteen marginalised counties is set to receive Sh278 million, as part of Equalisation fund set aside by the government.

Mandera is one of the most remote areas in Kenya. The roads into the county are dangerous and difficult, making the area hard to get to. For every 100,000 births in the area, there are 3,795 maternal deaths.