Kigali King Faisal Hospital fined Rwf125m for medical negligence

Kigali court ordered King Faisal Hospital in Rwanda to pay over Rwf125 million (approx $125,000) to a family whose child suffered permanent damage at the time of birth.

A woman undergoing C-Section surgical delivery. King Faisal Hospital lost a case in which former client sued it for taking too long to help the mother to deliver in the C-Section which cause fatigue and permanent damage to the baby

By Kelly Rwamapera

Gasabo intermediate court today 27th January 2023 ruled that the amount would be shared between King Faisal Hospital and its insurer SONARWA General Insurance Company.

The court ordered “King Faisal Hospital to pay Rwf105 million [approx $105000] and the hospital’s insurer, SONARWA, to pay Rwf20 million [approx $20,000]”

The court also ordered King Faisal Hospital to pay the plaintiff Rwf500,000 in litigation fees, Rwf2 million in lawyer’s fees and Rwf20,000 for court fees.

A Kigali family dragged the Central African Country’s leading referral hospital to court for negligence against the mother in labour that permanently affected the unborn baby.

The family argued that in early January 2015, King Faisal Hospital's medics took long hours to take the mother to the Caesarean Section as had been prescribed by a hospital doctor who had been handling the expectant mother.

The doctor had argued that the mother had narrow gaps between the hip bones or what he called an “elective Caesarean Section due to borderline pelvis”

The woman took nearly 24 hours in labour, requesting a C-section delivery and presenting the recommendations which had been written by her doctor.

The story says that King Faisal Medics later accepted to take her to the C-section but it also took about two hours after the decision had been reached.

After a successive C-Section delivery, the baby had been overcome by fatigue and taken to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where it spent up to 3 weeks on hospital charges.

Six years later when the couple lodged the case against King Faisal Hospital, the boy could not speak, or sit and suffered repetitive seizures despite long-time medication.

King Faisal Hospital argued that the boy’s bad health conditions were not due to the treatment its medics gave to the mother at the time of labour.

Lawyer Audace Ngabo Muhirwa and Sadi Jashi for the family presented a couple of letters exchanged among, family, KFH and the health ministry pinning KFH responsibility in the boy’s bad health condition.

Gasabo Intermediate Court sought a report by experts to ascertain the cause of the boy’s current health situation.

The court dismissed a couple of reports from October 2021 for lack of clarity, ordering the Rwanda Medical and Dental Council to oversee another report.

The last report submitted in December 2022 concluded that “the boy has an undeveloped brain which was caused by lack of oxygen at the time of birth, resulting into permanent damage.

The report further explained that the evidence for the lack of oxygen at the time of birth is exhibited in the young boy’s uncontrolled epilepsy, grey and white matter on the brain and upper airway obstructions.

This is the highest amount the hospital has been ordered to pay in a medical negligence case.

In 2021, the hospital paid Rwf40 million (approx $40,000) in compensation to a woman whose breast was removed for alleged cancer that was not.

Related stories:

When should medics be liable for their practice? (Part one)

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