For the second time this year (2025), Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) is under scrutiny following the killing of a patient under bizarre circumstances, raising fresh concerns over recurring security lapses at the facility.

On Thursday evening, Kenyans were once again shocked after reports emerged that Edward Maingi Ndegwa, a patient admitted at the referral hospital, had been brutally killed in broad daylight.

The incident has renewed questions about the safety of patients in the hospital’s wards, especially considering that a similar incident occurred in February. At the time, KNH management had pledged to strengthen surveillance measures to prevent such tragedies.

Kennedy Kalombotole has been linked to Ndegwa’s death. Reports indicate that Ndegwa was admitted to Ward 7B, Group C (Male).  On Thursday around 11:30am, a nurse checked his condition and recorded his blood pressure.

At 12:30 pm, a relative visited and found him stable, leaving the ward at around 1:30 pm.

However, at around 2 pm, a cleaner making rounds in the corridor noticed blood pooling around the patient’s neck, prompting the hospital management to call the police.

A homicide team dispatched to the scene reported spotting bloody slipper prints leading from the victim’s bedside to a nearby toilet, and eventually to a side room where the suspect, Kalombotole, was admitted.

Kilimani head of criminal investigations, Hussein Mahat, said several items were recovered, including the suspect’s shoes, which had bloodstains, likely from stepping on the floor.

“The forensic team collected swabs, and the shoes had visible stains. A bloodstained bedsheet was also found on his bed, all of which will aid in analysis,” said Mahat, adding that CCTV footage could provide crucial leads. According to Mahat, Kalombotole was due for discharge on the same day he was linked to the murder.

“The motive of the killing is yet to be established, as the suspect’s mental state remains unclear given his medical condition,” he added.

The incident comes just five months after another patient was killed in a similarly disturbing manner. On the night of February 6, 2025, Gilbert Kinyua was killed after his neck was slit while lying in his hospital bed, allegedly by an intruder.

According to his wife, Susan Wanjiku, the hospital management informed her that Kinyua was murdered around 2am, but the killing was only discovered several hours later.

Wanjiku questioned how a stranger managed to access the hospital, enter the ward in the early hours of the morning and fatally attack her bedridden husband without detection.She said her husband’s neck had been slashed with a sharp object, almost severing it and emphasized that Kinyua had no known conflicts, even with his family.

Pathologists who conducted a post-mortem on Kinyua’s body said the neck wound was about three centimetres deep. At the same time, it was noted that his body also had blisters on the back, indicating that he had not been moved for a long time in a case that is still being investigated.