Nairobi — Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire has refuted claims that five babies died at the Embu Level Five Hospital after the nationwide power outage.
Mbarire termed the claims as misleading and non-factual explaining that Embu Level Five Hospital has five standby generators which are functional and therefore the country-wide power blackout did not interfere with operations.
On his Facebook Account, Activist Boniface Mwangi claimed that several babies had died due to the power outage as the hospitals didn't have a power backup.
"The public is therefore advised to ignore and disregard such misleading and alarming posts that are not backed by facts. We invite Boniface Mwangi to come or get in touch with the Department of Health to verify this information," stated Mbarire.
The Embu County Boss explained that data from the Embu Level 5 hospital showed that only one baby had succumbed in the last 48 hours as he was born prematurely at 21 weeks.
"There were 20 deliveries among them 8 C/Ss. All the babies are in absolute good health," Mbarire said.
Mwangi has however updated that the current number of dead babies at Embu Hospital is nine saying these were unnecessary and avoidable deaths.
"How many other lives have been lost because hospitals didn't have a power backup or generators ran out of fuel? Failing to plan for a power blackout in a hospital is criminal negligence," he said.
Netizens on social media have raised concerns over the allegations urging Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Susan Nakhumicha to take action.
Kenya on Friday night plunged into total darkness due to a power outage, which Kenya Power attributed to a "system disturbance."
The agency stated that the disturbance subsequently led to the "loss of bulk power supply to various parts of the country."
"We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused," the power utility firm said.
The power blackout, the latest of many - lasting more than 12 hours for some areas - led to huge losses as businesses were disrupted.
Kenya Power restored power at the airport and in various regions across the country after a duration of almost five hours.
