The Homa Bay County Teaching and Referral Hospital, where a man died by suicide.
Every time his family visited him at the Homa Bay County Teaching and Referral Hospital, Mike Juma made a peculiar request, he would ask for a belt.
Juma, 38, had been diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB) and was undergoing treatment in an isolation ward within the hospital.
According to his family, he occasionally requested various personal items, but the one he consistently asked for - a belt - seemed unusual, especially since patients were typically dressed in loose hospital robes that required no such accessory.
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What lay beneath this repeated request, however, was a silent struggle, a deeply personal battle that Mr Juma kept hidden from those closest to him.
Wish granted
On Sunday, unaware of any troubling undertone behind the request, his wife granted his wish and delivered the belt.
Tragically, later that evening, news reached the family that Mr Juma had passed away.
His lifeless body was discovered in one of the washrooms of Ward Seven, the section of the hospital designated for TB patients. He had hanged himself.
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Dr Vincent Oduor, the hospital's Chief Executive Officer, said that at the time of the incident, Juma had appeared to be responding positively to treatment.
“Other patients assumed he had stepped out to bathe or to use the washroom,” Dr Oduor said.
His body was discovered by a janitor who had entered the facility to clean. Alarmed by the discovery, the worker immediately reported the incident.
Probe
“The matter was promptly reported to hospital administration and the police,” added Dr Oduor.
Homa Bay sub-County Police Commander Emmanuel Kiplagat confirmed that a team of investigators had been dispatched to the hospital following the report.
“A postmortem will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death,” said Mr Kiplagat.
Preliminary findings revealed that the patient had, at one point, defaulted on his medication, prompting doctors to readmit him in an effort to stabilize his condition.
His body was later transferred to the hospital mortuary, where it awaits autopsy.
