The Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA-Kenya) is calling for the immediate arrest of a doctor who allegedly sexually assaulted a female dialysis patient at Pandya Memorial Hospital in Mombasa.
According to a survivor’s statement to the police, the doctor took advantage of the early morning dialysis sessions to sexually harass her through unconsented sexual conversation, groping, and finally raping over a period.
The victim says that the sexual harassment happened from late 2024 to this year, despite reporting the said doctor to the management.
In a statement seen by TV47 Digital, FIDA-Kenya says it is disturbed by the hospital’s management repeatedly ignored the victim’s reports of the doctor’s conduct.
“Their failure to intervene not only enabled the crime to continue but also showed the hospital’s systemic failure to protect patients from sexual violence. They aided this crime through their indifference and inaction,” FIDA says.
Additionally, FIDA-Kenya also wants the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecution (ODPP) to investigate and charge specific staff members who knew about the sexual assault and took no action.
“The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) and the Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK) must suspend the licenses of all those involved until complete investigations are concluded,” FIDA-Kenya demands. “If found guilty, we demand that KMPDC and NCK respectively deregister the doctor and the nurses involved.”
In addition, FIDA-Kenya says it will be filing a civil lawsuit against Pandya Memorial Hospital in a bid to seek compensation for the victim for gross negligence and failure to protect her. “Within the next five days, FIDA-Kenya will write to the Health Department in Mombasa, KMPDC, NCK, and the Ministry of Health with specific practice and policy demands to proactively protect all patients from different forms of abuse.”
The body is of the opinion that sexual assault of a dialysis patient while undergoing the actual dialysis process warrants the maximum penalty under several laws, including; Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act of 2006 on rape which carries a minimum sentence of ten years, extendable to life imprisonment, Cap 63, the Penal Code which allows the hospital management to be charged with neglect of duty and complicity in the crime, the Health Act of 2017 and Cap. 253, the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act which allows regulatory action and revocation of licenses of health facilities that fail to ensure patient safety, as well as Cap. 257, the Nurses Act which provides disciplinary measures against the nurses for professional misconduct.
