A Pediatrician’s Compassionate Touch » Capital News
By Rose Muasya
He turned his childhood dream into a lifelong mission. Today, his advocacy for prevention is comprehensive and far-reaching, combining community awareness with efforts to enhance the healthcare system’s preparedness to respond.
Growing up, he dreamed of more than just wearing a doctor’s coat and tending to babies. He longed for those deeply human moments—the warmth of a tiny hand curled in his, the soft rhythm of a child’s heartbeat beneath his stethoscope, and the chance to look anxious parents in the eye and promise that their little ones would soon be laughing and smiling again.
Today, his days are filled with the soft hum of hospital corridors, the laughter and cries of young patients, and the steady rhythm of guiding the hospital staff toward better care.
Dr. Einstein Kibet, a pediatrician leading child health as the Head of Healthcare Quality at Mwai Kibaki Referral Hospital in Nyeri, is fulfilling and living his childhood dream.
For Dr Kibet, stepping into the realm of medicine was not just a career choice, but a deeply ingrained calling, a destiny he believes places him squarely in the fight to make a profound difference in maternal and newborn health.
From a young age, the echoes of his parents’ words, “he always wanted to be a doctor,” set his path. The compassionate care he received from his doctors during a period of hospitalization in his youth left an indelible mark, solidifying his resolve to don the white coat himself.
The actual impetus for his specialization in maternal and newborn health arrived with a heartbreaking clarity. He recalls a scene that would forever alter his professional trajectory: a mother whose baby suffered from severe birth asphyxia.
“The baby did not cry; he was not breathing well, and so he was put on oxygen and was convulsing. So, the mother was crying all the time, and every time I would go to check on the baby, I would still find her crying, and you could see her tears all over the floor,” he recounts, the vivid memory still resonating with raw emotions.
That experience propelled him into a relentless quest for understanding. He dug deep, uncovering a myriad of systemic issues that, had they been addressed, could have prevented such an event.
“Every time I think about that mother, I usually find myself wanting to talk about this issue and prevent another occurrence from happening,” he states, a testament to his unwavering commitment.
Severe birth asphyxia, Dr Kibet explains, is a devastating condition where a baby’s oxygen supply is cut off during delivery, with the brain’s vital functions affected the most.
The brain, the body’s control centre for everything from heart function to cognition to muscle movement and growth, suffers immensely when starved of oxygen.
This critical oxygen deprivation typically occurs during delivery, signs of distress are evident in the baby, and any delay in intervention or missing that crucial window of time leads to dire and life-long consequences in the baby and family as a whole.
He says causes can range from premature placental detachment cutting of blood flow to the baby abruptly before a baby has a chance to take a breath, or due to the umbilical cord abnormally twisting around the baby’s neck and tightening with each contractions thus leading to stoppage in blood flow from the mother to the baby through the umbilical cord cutting of oxygen supply.
“If you detect it late, or detect it on time and delay to initiate the interventions, the baby may get asphyxiated, which is another term for lack of oxygen,” he warns, emphasizing the narrow margin for error.
Dr Kibet’s advocacy for prevention is multifaceted, addressing both community awareness and healthcare system readiness.
According to him, the first line of defense is ensuring mothers labor in the hospital, not at home. This is achieved by educating them about birth preparedness, danger signs during pregnancy — including when to seek immediate medical attention —and reinforcing this information through antenatal mother-baby clinic booklets.
Secondly, he believes that the healthcare professionals bear the responsibility of meticulously monitoring the unborn baby’s well-being and progress inside the womb and continuously during active labor. This includes continuous fetal heartbeat monitoring and Doppler ultrasounds to detect signs of oxygen deprivation in the baby. Additionally, there needs to be a team of health staff ready to provide any emergency intervention if it is noted that labor is not progressing well, the fetus is in distress, and requires emergency delivery.
Dr Kibet actively mentors and empowers healthcare workers, strengthening their capacity to make timely, critical decisions.
The biggest drawback he faces is a persistent challenge when decisions on the best care for the woman and her baby are made, but resources are lacking.
For example, he highlights the ‘moral dilemma’ faced by healthcare workers when a C-section is needed. Still, no theatre is readily available, leading to dangerous delays that affect the baby’s outcome. Similarly, sufficient health staffing in delivery rooms is paramount.
“When you go to many health facilities, you might find that there is only one midwife who is delivering mothers, and in an unfortunate incident where the baby has been delivered and the mother has any complication, that one staff member attends to the mother first, leaving the baby unattended. In such a case, if the baby had not taken the first breath and with no one to support their breathing, they will get asphyxia at that point.” He stresses the necessity of having enough personnel during delivery to attend to both mother and baby simultaneously.
He advocates for empowering the dispensaries and health centers to manage deliveries, to avoid high workloads at subcounty and county-level facilities. This will mitigate overburdening the workforce and capacity at these high-level facilities so that they can manage complicated deliveries. This can only be achieved if there is a robust referral network with a 24-hour/7-day-a-week response that links the lower-level to the higher-level facilities.
According to Dr Kibet, the consequences of severe birth asphyxia extend far beyond the delivery room. It is a leading cause of neonatal mortality in the first month of life, accounting for almost 30%of newborn deaths.
But for those who survive, he says the battle is often lifelong.
“Unfortunately, they live with disability because brain damage affects everything; movement, weight gain, delayed developmental milestones, swallowing leading to choking and lung problems,” Dr Kibet states grimly.
The burden on mothers is immense. He explains that these children are entirely dependent, often forcing mothers to leave their jobs or incur significant costs for full-time care.
The children endure chronic convulsions, often difficult to control even with multiple medications.
Beyond the financial strain, he says mothers face emotional and social challenges, including ridicule, stigma, and job loss.
“In some cultures, the mother may even be blamed, leading to family breakdowns and severe depression,” he says. “I have taken it upon myself to talk about birth asphyxia to prevent/eliminate it.”
A proud alumnus of Moi University, where he completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in medical studies, Dr Kibet has been practicing since 2013, specializing as a pediatrician in 2021.
His daily motivation stems from a simple yet profound philosophy: ‘prevention is better than cure,’ saying that the joy of seeing mothers leave the hospital smiling, their babies breastfeeding well, and equipped with the knowledge of danger signs is his ultimate reward.
His influence goes beyond patient care. He dedicates time to mentoring his fellow healthcare workers, emphasizing the importance of empowering mothers with knowledge.
“It is not just about talking to the mothers, but I am also growing the next generation of healthcare professionals,” he says.
When not immersed in the demanding world of healthcare, Dr Kibet finds solace in nature, enjoying walks in green spaces, and while at home, a good movie or documentary provides a warm respite during his off days.
“Maternal and newborn space is a shared responsibility; you cannot work alone, you have to involve the community, the government, and healthcare professionals, to eliminate maternal and neonatal mortalities, especially those that can be prevented. We all need to come together and roll up our sleeves to address it. This is a problem that we have, and we need to understand it can be fixed, and that all of us have a critical role to play,”
Dr. Kibet is one of the maternal health advocates who will gather to raise awareness about concerted efforts during the upcoming Run For Her Post-Partum Hemorrhage (PPH) run on 28th September. He urges everyone to participate in the race and stand alongside other health champions to protect the first thousand days of a child’s life.
According to Dr Kibet, being part of this maternal and child health movement symbolises the journey from pregnancy to safe delivery to childhood wellness.
Dr. Kibet’s journey is a compelling story of passion, pain, and purposeful action to love, care for, and protect the little ones, and for those who are unwell, to bring them back to better health. Each sick child who smiles again and returns home to their loved ones is a testament that healthcare matters. Dr. Kibet’s lifelong dream affirms that hope and dreams are achievable; his life lives on in the children’s hearts and their infectious laughter.
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