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Four Kenyan medics have been suspended after cutting open the skull of the wrong patient in one of the worst cases of medical malpractice to become public at Kenyatta National Hospital.

Two men had been wheeled into KNH unconscious last Sunday.

One needed head surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain while the other only required nursing and medication to heal a trauma swelling in his head, medically known as closed head injury.

However, a horror mix-up of identification tags saw the wrong man wheeled into theatre and his skull opened.

Doctors did not realise the mistake until hours into the surgery, when they discovered there was no blood clot in the brain of the man sprawled on the operating table.

The doctors did not realise their mistake until "hours into the surgery, when they discovered there was no blood clot", the Daily Nation reported.

The head of the Kenyatta National Hospital said the patient was "in recovery and progressing well" and an investigation is under way.

The board regulating medical practice says such a mix-up is a first in the country. It has demanded a report from the hospital and plans to hold a hearing.

Social media users have expressed shock that such an incident could have been allowed to happen.

It comes only six weeks after the health minister ordered an investigation into claims new mothers were sexually assaulted at the same hospital.

PROCEDURE

They had cut open the head of the wrong patient in a dizzying case of medical malpractice that once again casts the spotlight on the country’s biggest referral hospital.

The mix-up also raises questions about pre-surgery procedures in Kenyan hospitals, especially on how to ensure the right patient is operated on the right place.

It also calls to question doctors’ lack of commitment to their patients to ensure they receive the care they need to get well.

The Daily Nation, which investigated the scandal since Wednesday, will not publish details of the patients out of respect for their privacy and because it was not clear on Thursday if their families had been informed of the operation.

Last evening, hospital management threw out this reporter by dramatically having security guards escort her out of the premises for making enquiries about the incident.


Doctors 'overwhelmed'

Hospital CEO Lily Koros said the hospital "deeply regrets this event and has done all it can to ensure the safety and well-being of the patient in question.

"We are happy to inform the public that the patient is in recovery and progressing well," Ms Koros added.

She said four staff - the neurosurgeon, ward nurse, theatre receiving nurse and anaesthetist - had been suspended.

"The management has suspended the admission rights of a neurosurgery registrar and issued him with a show-cause letter for apparently operating on the wrong patient," Ms Koros said. A show-cause letter requires a staff member to account for his or her actions.

But the doctor's colleagues have protested against the suspension, reports The Star, arguing the person who put on the identification tag is the one that should be punished.