Inside grueling task of reuniting unknown patients with families at PGH

When your kin goes missing, more often than not, the first place you check is the hospital. Families move from ward to ward, asking if their loved one has been admitted.

In some cases, they come across hospital entries such as “Unidentified African male” or “Unidentified African female.” Other times, a name appears if the patient had documents or details that could help identify them.

Mtaa Wangu spoke to Nakuru County Teaching and Referral Hospital (NCTRH) Medical Superintendent Dr. Samuel Waweru on how the facility shares information about unknown patients and what happens to those who have been discharged but continue to stay within the hospital premises, a category referred to as “discharge-ins.”

Dr. Waweru starts off by saying, for the hospital to take charge and start locating a patient's family they must have been in hospital for at least two weeks without any sign of a family member claiming them.

They must also be in good shape to have photos taken to be used to trace their families.

“An accident victim may not be in the best of shape when they are brought in. Some have head injuries and cannot even say where they come from. We admit them immediately as unknowns, hoping their relatives will eventually trace them,” Dr. Waweru explains in a phone interview. 

He says in most instances, in the initial days, families themselves often do the work of searching, moving from one hospital to another. 

"But if an unidentified patient overstays, the hospital seeks support from the Nakuru County Department of Information. Usually, about two weeks is the cut-off point. We then escalate by sharing the patient’s photograph and details through the county communication channels,” Dr. Waweru says.

He however notes ,one of the most effective tools has been the hospital’s official Facebook page, which regularly posts alerts about missing or unidentified patients. 

“That is the easiest channel. Families often visit the page and check there or physically visit the facility,” he says.

Waweru notes the process, however, is not without its challenges. Privacy concerns mean that the hospital cannot always post patient images. 

Despite these difficulties, Dr. Waweru maintains the hospital’s mission is to treat patients and reunite them with their families.