Two women gave birth at the gate of Murang’a General Hospital on Monday morning as a strike by health workers at the facility kicked off.
With no one in sight to help them, the mothers, writhing in pain and accompanied by their relatives, had camped outside the hospital because medics had refused to admit them.
Mary Njeri, who was with her sister, said they were chased out of the facility and on their way out the baby came forth.
She was rushed to the casualty section by a passer-by and was quickly assisted by medical students to deliver.
The other woman, Ann Wanjiru, who also brought her daughter, said they were camping at the hospital hoping the strike would be called off.
She said she had gone to a private hospital but she could no afford the Sh11,000 delivery fee medics were demanding.
She appealed to the government to end the stalemate with the medics so as to save people from the agony.
“We don’t have anywhere else to go and we cannot go home until the baby is delivered,” she said.
Paul Ngugi, who had come to check on his niece, expressed fears that babies who had been taken to nursery for close monitoring might die because they had been abandoned.
“What will happen to the newborn babies who had been put in the incubators and the parents cannot ascertain if they can take them home?” he posed.
The medics pitched camp at the Mumbi grounds, saying they won’t resume work until their grievances are addressed.