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By:
Hudson Gumbihi | |||||||||
| Posted:
Sep,19-2015 12:43:23
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In a span of five months, two doctors have been fingered in Kenya for alleged professional misconduct revolving around sexual abuse of female patients in their care. It is widely believed that many female patients are raped in hospital beds in traumatising ordeals that they would rather not speak about due to the stigma involved. Many times, victims choose to suffer in silence rather than risk attracting public ridicule when the truth is disclosed. Dr Frank Njenga, a psychiatrist, revealed that some doctors were necrophiles (men who have a fetish for having sex with corpses). He states that any person who takes sexual advantage of a human being is a criminal and should face the full force of the law as stipulated in the Penal Code. "There is something fundamentally wrong with the person's personality. Any doctor will tell you that man is a psychopath," said Njenga in reference to Mugo wa Wairimu, the 'doctor' accused of raping a patient at his city clinic. Silence by victims has encouraged some wayward medical practitioners to continue sexually abusing female patients. This is abetted by lack of protection by relevant bodies, blatant cover-ups and deliberate bungling of investigations. "This is a social issue in many communities who are sensitive about sexual matters. Many men will believe that the woman (victim) provoked the situation. Therefore, you become a victim of another situation to an extent of being ostracised. That is why women shy away from reporting," Dr Francis Kerre, a sociology lecturer at Kenyatta University told this writer. Mugo's case comes after Mwangi Muchiri was arrested at his Fig Tree Medical Centre in Ngara after he allegedly forcibly conducted an HIV test on a woman who claimed to have been raped by Imenti Central MP Gideon Mwiti. Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board (KMPDB) boss Daniel Yumbya said Muchiri was arrested because his clinic was not licensed. But that was nothing compared to the shocking of an expose on Citizen TV of disturbing rape incident at Mugo's Zimmerman clinic. The clip titled Doctored Abuse showed a man claimed to be Mugo Wairimu, a controversial city 'gynaecologist' and political party 'youth winger', mounting a sedated patient. Mugo who runs Prestige Healthcare in Githurai 44 and Zimmerman estates in Nairobi has since disowned the footage. The Nursing Council of Kenya and KMPDB quickly disowned Mugo, saying he is not a registered member of the two professional bodies. The Nairobi City County government also said the clinic was not licensed to operate and that it had been closed down by authorities in June. A national outcry ensued, with enraged members of the public demanding for Mugo's immediate arrest. "Arresting Mugo is not any big deal, we can get him any time. What is important is the evidence, that is why it is necessary we get to victims who have been abused. We need evidence before we go for him bearing in mind that you are suppose to take a suspect to court within 24 hours of an arrest. So we risk destroying the case if we hurry up," explained John Kariuki, head of Serious Crimes Unit. Mugo was later arrested in Tigonia on September 10 and handed over to the Serious Crimes Unit. Kariuki said they are likely to plead with the court to give them more time to complete their investigations. Dr John Nyamu, a gynaecologist, said he doubted whether Mugo was qualified. He said most of the highly trained gynaecologists cannot stoop too low to abuse their patients, claiming those doing so are quacks or medical practitioners in the low cadre of the profession. "Those are not professionals. As gynaecologists, we don't do such because we want to preserve our integrity. When you do that, you will lose the trust of your clients. Most of the cases involve nurses but doctors don't do that because of the kind of training they receive," he stated. | |||||||||
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