The Kiambu County Government has kicked off investigations into the death of an 11-year-old boy at Igegania Level Four Hospital in Gatundu North.

The family of the deceased, which is linking negligence to the death of their son, says they took him to the health facility on Tuesday, May 27, for treatment over suspected pneumonia.

Doctors at Igegania, the family claims, acted in a lackluster manner, and efforts to have the boy referred to Thika Hospital were allegedly rejected by the management.

It is also alleged that Igegania hospital’s management refused to approve an ambulance to ferry the boy to another hospital where he would receive proper health care.

Kiambu County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Health Dr. Elias Maina, while speaking to the press during a visit to the hospital, said the county administration had already fired doctors who were found not to be on duty on Tuesday, adding that headcount was underway to net all doctors not reporting to work.

The CECM said that the county had invested billions in the health sector, which gets KSh8 billion of the county’s annual budget, to improve services, and cases of healthcare workers boycotting work on unreasonable grounds, which is compromising service delivery, would not be tolerated.

Dr. Maina rubbished claims that the county was not paying their health workers on time, saying currently, the county government does not owe any of them a penny and, therefore, participating in the strike, which started on Tuesday, will be met by severe punishment as per labour laws.

He added that the county would not allow selfish interests to supersede human life. According to Dr. Maina, the county was building over 30 new hospitals, upgraded 28 others, and renewed medical equipment by replacing existing ones with advanced machines to improve service delivery.