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Mother blames Alliance for daughter’s death


A mother is grieving after her daughter, a student at Alliance Girls High School, died due to what she terms negligence on the part of the school.

Vivian Vugutha, 14, died on Thursday at Kikuyu Mission Hospital reportedly after ailing for several days.

Postmortem results show the deceased died of pneumonia, her mother Florence Kibisu told the Daily Nation.

Ms Kibisu accuses the school of taking her daughter to hospital when it was already too late. She says the school did not also bother to inform her about her child’s illness.

“According to the information we got from the school’s nurse, Vivian fell sick on 9th this month. Ever since, she had been making daily trips to the school clinic where she was given painkillers for her fever. On May 12, the nurse admitted to giving her anti-malarial drugs, besides the painkillers, even without conducting a malaria test,” said Ms Kibisu.

Vivian was taken to Kikuyu Hospital on the morning of May 14 after her condition worsened. She died before receiving treatment.

“I was told my daughter underwent a chest X-Ray because she kept on complaining of chest and back pains. She asked to lie down at the casualty department and passed on 10 minutes later,” she said.

BRIGHT STUDENT

“I wish the school contacted me earlier, I would have taken her to hospital myself. Vivian would be alive today if she had received the correct care.”

Ms Kibisu described her daughter as an extremely bright student. She had taken position three out of 398 students in last term’s exams. She dreamt of becoming a neurosurgeon.
However, Ms Kibisu said she has no plans of suing the school.

“All I wish for is for Alliance to take better care of its students to prevent similar incidents in future,” she said.

The school has however denied claims of negligence saying the best care was given to the form one student.

“We have a trained nurse who deals with health complains from all students. Vivian was taken to hospital on 9th which is the day she first complained of being unwell, and was diagnosed with a throat infection and given medication,” said Principal Dorothy Kamwilu.

She added that the school was planning on holding a memorial service for Vivian and that financial support will be given to her family to offset any bills.