Man dies few hours after donating blood

A man, Desmond Kipkoech, reportedly died shortly after donating blood at a hospital in Baringo.

On Thursday, February 18 at around 11.50 am,  Kipkoech visited Mercy Mission Hospital in Eldama Ravine town, Baringo County to donate blood.

According to the hospital’s CCTV cameras, he left 

one of the examination rooms while staggering at 1 pm. However, collapsing on a bench outside Room 15 at the hospital thirty minutes later and was rushed to one of the emergency rooms. 

Unfortunately, at 4 pm on that same day, Kipkoech was pronounced dead and his body  was taken to the mortuary.

According to his family, Kipkoech was a healthy man. They are demanding an explanation as to what might have happened that led to his sudden death. 

His eldest brother Samati Kemboi, who is a student at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) in Eldoret, said that Kipkoech had traveled to Eldama Ravine to visit his wife.

Kemboi said, “We are shaken and devastated. Our brother went to donate blood to save other people’s lives but ended up dying.” 

He added that on that Thursday, he he left his brother as he was going to Eldoret but Emma Koech, a nurse at Mercy Mission Hospital called him to tell him the sad news. 

Kemboi dismissed the claims by the nurse that the his brother had developed nausea and began vomiting before donating blood.

“The nurse claimed my brother was not fit to donate blood but in the CCTV footage, which the hospital allowed us to view, a laboratory technician is seen carrying donated blood to the storage room,” he said.

The family maintained that they would like to know what transpired in the blood donation room and whether their kin developed some kind of complication. 

“All we want to know is whether there was some form of medical negligence during the process since Kipkoech, as far as we know, was in good health,” Kemboi asserted.

On Wednesday, February 24, a post-mortem examination report was conducted at the hospital and even though it was not conclusive, it showed that blood pressure complications could have caused Kipkoech's death. 

The Rift Valley Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had taken over the matter with the regional boss Paul Wachira saying that investigations to establish what exactly happened are underway. 

The management of the hospital had not yet commented on the matter.