Two hospitals—one in Nairobi and another in the nearby town of Kitengela—were ransacked during Monday’s Saba Saba protests, witnesses and medical staff said, capping a day of unrest that police say left 11 people dead.
At Kitengela Sub-County Hospital, about 34 km south of the capital, more than 100 club-wielding intruders burst in demanding care for injured companions, nurse Lilian Nyakhurenya told media. “We had to barricade the maternity wing with a grille and flee in patients’ gowns,” she said, adding that the crowd set a small fire near the laboratory before police arrived.
Clinical dermatologist Saningo Tatio said the attackers smashed equipment and forced staff to hide. “The police showed up, but the numbers overwhelmed them,” he said.
In Nairobi’s Embakasi district, armed men stormed Bristol Hospital on Monday evening, seizing medical gear valued at more than 800,000 Kenyan shillings ($6,200) along with staff mobile phones and optical frames, branch manager Jeff Ngami reported. Several employees were injured and traumatised, he added.
Neither Kenya’s police service nor government spokespeople responded to requests for comment. Peterson Wachira, head of the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers, accused authorities of ignoring repeated pleas for security. “Yesterday exposed how completely health workers have been abandoned,” he said, warning that facilities in protest-prone areas now require armed protection.
Tension has boiled over since blogger Albert Ojwang died in police custody last month, reigniting demonstrations a year after protesters stormed parliament. Monday’s rallies marked 35 years since the original 7 July 1990 pro-democracy march, drawing thousands into the streets to protest economic hardship and police brutality.