By The Star
Doctors at Kapenguria County Referral Hospital have found seven sewing needles lodged in the body of a 3-year-old baby girl.
An X-ray imaging confirmed that five of the needs are lodged in Dorcas Chepchumba’s abdomen while two are on her back.
The girl from Kangilikwagan village was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday with abdominal pain, cough, and fever.
The girl’s grandparents, who are taking of her since her mother got married elsewhere, said they don’t know how the needles got into the child’s body.
Emily Ling’aa, the grandmother, said the child has been sickly for the past one year.
“Chepchumba’s mother abandoned her at my home due to the frequent illness. She gave me the child to take care of after she got married to another man.”
The woman said they thought the child was suffering from a normal disease when she complained of stomach upsets.
“We thought that she was bewitched because the child doesn’t belong to the family where my daughter is married,” Ling’aa said.
“We have been taking her to dispensaries and giving her painkillers,” she told journalists on Wednesday.
Dorcas Chepchumba with her grandparents at Kapenguria county hoapital on May 2, 2018. /MARRYANN CHAI
The family is appealing for help to cater for the child’s treatment saying they cannot afford the cost of the surgery.
The child has been referred to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret for the procedure to remove the needles.
Ibrahim Longolomoi, West Pokot Health chief officer, said the hospital administration has reported the matter to the police who have launched investigations.
“Doctors at the hospital believe the needles were inserted into the child’s body…this is mistreatment of children,” he told the press in Kapenguria.
A similar case was last December reported in Thika where a 10-month-old girl who was found with 14 needles lodged in her body.
The child’s parents Isaac Gichure and his wife Jacinta Ndunge were freed on a Sh300,000 bond with one surety of similar amount.
