Abandoned but not alone: Babies with disabilites find hope at KNH

At the far end of Ward 3B at Kenyatta National Hospital lies a special room. You are welcomed by curious baby eyes. As innocent as they look, their first interaction with the world was rejection.

They are lying there not knowing the mothers who brought them into this world, do not want anything to do with them, their biggest mistake was being different.

The babies were abandoned because of physical deformities.

Baby Moraa turned 1 in June, and her bed is directly opposite the door. Walking in, she coos gently after seeing the nurse’s familiar face. Moraa has hydrocephalus.

Hydrocephalus is the buildup of fluid in cavities called ventricles deep within the brain. The excess fluid increases the size of the ventricles and puts pressure on the brain. Hence making a baby a head bigger than the body.

According to Emma Karatai. Social Worker in charge of pediatric services at KNH Moraa’s mother is a Ugandan woman, who was working as a house help in Matasia area.

“She was impregnated by a Kenyan man who was a driver at a school. After giving birth, the man left her because the baby had congenital malformation, the farther absconded his duty, so she took the baby and went back to Uganda with her baby.”

While in Uganda, she was forced to come back to Kenya and look for the baby’s father to take responsibility. Baby Moraa was unwell and she was admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital. That is when other mothers in the ward noticed some red flags.

“The other mothers told me that she would bath baby Moraa, with cold water, she would also not change the diapers., When I asked her she told me that she cannot afford diapers, so I sent her to the Catholic church at KNH where she would get the diapers, soap and other essentials as well as psycho-social support. She later disappeared and left the baby,” says Karatai

Karatai would later reach out to the baby’s father. He came to see the baby and never returned. The phone number the mother gave out has been off since she left the hospital.

“In child protection we look out for the best interest of the child. We do not force anyone to take the baby, because we might force them to harm the child. We can support but we cannot force,” says Karatai.

From January to June this year, 18 babies have been abandoned at the hospital. Fifteen were taken to different children's homes while the three still remain.

When you walk into the room on the left side lies 8 months old baby Zawadi, he has spina bifida. His head turns once he notices there’s presence in the room. His little eyes trying to figure out who the strangers are.

Baby Zawadis mother is from Kibera area, after giving birth to him at KNH, she left and never returned.

“After the mother left, I called her and she said she cannot afford to raise a child who is challenged. I told her that the child’s mental development will be okay, he will just be physically challenged. But she said she doesn’t want the baby,” Says Karatai

Spina bifida is a birth defect where the spinal cord doesn't fully close during pregnancy, leaving a gap or opening in the spine. This can affect how the spinal cord and nerves develop, leading to various challenges with movement, other body functions.

Directly opposite Zawadi is another baby boy “Baby Cassandra”, since the mother had not named him yet, they call him by the mother’s name. He’s 1-year-old also with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. He has casts on his feet meant to gradually correct the foot's abnormal position by stretching and holding the foot in a corrected alignment.

“He was also born at KNH, then the mother abandoned him. I called the next of kin who was the mothers aunt. I called so many times then I gave up,” says Karatai

Nurse Jane Njambi Ngugi, a senior nurse at ward 3B at KNH, says caring for the babies means doing everything a mother does for a baby.

“We start with bathing, just after the handover of the report. We check the overall condition of the babies. We take the vitals, then bath, then feed. Feeding is done every three hours. The feeds are written by the nutritionist, depending on the needs of the baby. Because the babies have different weights,” Say Nurse Ngugi

To avoid bed sores, every two hours they walk in to turn the babies, because they cannot do it on their own.

“We check the vitals, since these are the children with no mothers, it is our responsibility to check: Are there fevers? Is the baby retaining feed? Is the baby having diarrhea?” She Says  

The babies need physiotherapy, and occupational therapy, because they have to be taught to use their muscles.

Emma Karatai adds that on every patient who is admitted, they do a comprehensive family socio-economic assessment. When they discover a child has been abandoned and efforts to reach out to the family proves futile they take other measures.

“We report the mother to the police. We have a Kenyatta police post. The mother is reported to the hospital security system and then an OB number is issued and it's put in the patients file. Then we use the same comprehensive family socio-economic assessment. We inform the children’s department,” Says Karatai

Children who do not have any congenital malformations are usually taken to children's homes. Unfortunately, the children who have malformations will not be admitted to any home. So most of them tend to overstay in the hospital.

According to Philis Murithii, Medical Social Worker, Deputy Head of Unit at KNH, when adults are abandoned they use fingerprints and liaise with the National Registration Bureau for identification.

Phyllis also talks about how children are usually abandoned at the hospital.

 “Some by police, some by well-wishers…safe children’s homes.

According to Philis Murithii, Medical Social Worker, at KNH, when adults are abandoned they use fingerprints and liaise with National Registration Bureau for identification

“Some by the police, some by good, well-wishers.  But then we also have mothers who come, maybe they are underage, or maybe a mother who has other children, and they feel like they are not able to take care of an extra child, then they just abandon. They give us fake information, and they leave the babies,” says Phyllis