By Prudence Minayo
Laikipia is one of Kenya’s most beautiful counties. The enchanting landscape covered with rich vegetation provides a feeling of tranquility. Nestled deep within this beauty is Sipili Maternity and Nursing Home in Ol-Moran, Laikipia West. This hospital defines the true meaning of evil, greed, corruption and abuse of power-at least according to an expose aired on NTV. At the helm of its leadership is George Mbugua and his wife Monica Mbugua,who serve as director and assistant director respectively.
The NTV expose by Ngina Kirori depicted a hospital in knee-deep rot and a director who has been accused multiple times of sexually abusing a number of women including making an attempt on the journalist. As female patients go there for treatment, he offers them another more sinister treatment that is not at par with medical ethics.
Here is his story as told by WoK.
Profile
George Mbugua qualified as a medical practitioner at St Luke’s School of Nursing in Kinangop. The Nyahururu native began his career at a catholic health facility where he worked for quite a number of years.
In 2010, he opened Sipili Maternity and Nursing home alongside his wife. The hospital soon grew and became the only NHIF accredited facility in its locality. Monica’s role is to oversee the smooth running of the hospital and payments.
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Hospital
According to Health Digest, by last year, the hospital was fully operational with a capacity for 16 beds and 1 cot. Their services included outpatient curative services, focused antenatal care and basic obstetric care.
On 28th September 2021, they announced their readiness to begin offering theatre services. This was despite the fact that George Mbugua’s operation license had expired in 2020.
The two have been running the hospital now for more than a decade managing to hide the gruesome acts carried out within its walls. George has been accused by a number of female patients for touching them inappropriately and leaving them scarred forever.
According to the damning expose, Mr George Mbugua has a private room in his office where he has lured a number of women in the guise of checkup. One woman recounted how he would often visit her in her assigned room making her feel very uncomfortable. The woman, only known as Esther, would recount how she was lured to the said room and the doctor tried to force himself on her. She fought back and threatened to scream if he dared continue the assault. He let her go and followed her to her room where he proceeded to just laugh sarcastically. She told the NTV investigative journalist that the incident left her feeling dirty and wondered why she was handpicked by the doctor.
Ngina also went undercover and was admitted at the facility. No preliminary tests were conducted to ascertain her illness. The owner of the facility made a pass at the journalist by asking unprofessional intimate questions. As she was at the hospital, she had an encounter with a teen who had also fallen prey to the doctor. The medic had entered her room in the guise of treating her only to put his fingers where they had no business being. The director would defend himself and ask Ngina to convince the teen that nothing happened and she overreacted. These and a number of accounts were shared by other victims. Others also explained how they had been financially exploited after the hospital refused to use the NHIF cover.
On the other hand, his wife, who has no medical training whatsoever, has been reportedly prescribing medicine at times. She has been accused of being very mean to nurses and altering patients’ medication depending on the price.
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Soon after the NTV expose, KMPDC on 24th February announced the clinic had ceased operations as its operating license had been revoked.
“Consequently, you are hereby directed to close the facility with immediate effect and organize in consultation with patients’ relatives to transfer all the in-patients to other facilities of their choice within 24 hours,” said KMPDC CEO Daniel Yumbya. He further urged NHIF to ensure all the covered patients are appropriately facilitated.
Incidents of gross misconduct in a number of hospitals have been covered in the past hence this is not an isolated case. Thousands of Kenyans were outraged to know that medical practitioners who get to see them at their most vulnerable could abuse them and get away with it. People can only wait with bated breath for justice to be served on this matter.
