This archive report was first published on 8 July 2021.
On July 8, 2021, a Form Three student from Kagumo Secondary School in Murang'a County visited the Maragua hospital for a tetanus injection after a minor boda boda accident.
Joseph Mwangi, the student, reported that two days after the injection, his left hand and leg started swelling.
He returned to the hospital for further examination but was met with resistance from the medical staff, who allegedly took away his medical report card and failed to attend to him.
"One of the medical officers took my card and they entered an office with a colleague but they never came out and I was forced to wait for more than four hours," Mwangi said.
He eventually gave up and returned to school, where he reported the incident to his teacher.
Two days later, James Njeri, the deputy headteacher, accompanied Mwangi back to the hospital, only to be told that the student's medical card could not be found.
"We could not trace the record of Mwangi having attended the hospital and all other necessary documents were missing," Njeri said.
The deputy headteacher alleged that a medical officer at the facility told him that the dispensary did not have the tetanus vaccine for a number of years and that it's not clear what the student was injected with.
"We want to know who attended to the student and administered the vaccine," the medic said.
However, the deputy principal maintained that the school has copies of the student's medical report, which were submitted by the student after his first visit.
Mwangi's mother, Ann Wanjiru, expressed her fears that her son could become paralyzed if he does not receive proper treatment.
