While workers were preparing to embalm and drain blood from the body of a Kenyan man after doctors declared him dead, 32-year-old Peter Kigen regained consciousness and began screaming in the morgue after a member of staff sliced his leg open, according to reports.
According to reports, he was rushed by his family to Kaplatet Hospital in Kericho as he was suffering from a stomach ailment. Kigen’s brother said that a nurse had informed the family that Peter had passed away.
"The nurse later handed me a document to take to the mortuary attendant before my brother's body was moved to the morgue,” Kigen’s brother told a local news agency.
After Kigen was declared dead, he was shifted to the hospital’s mortuary where workers were preparing his body for the embalming process. As the workers were preparing to drain blood from his body for the embalming process, they realised he was alive. Kigen regained consciousness and started to writhe in pain. Thinking a dead man had come back to life, the workers ran away, according to the reports.
He was later hurried to the emergency department and was given first aid.
“The mortician called me into the morgue, and we saw him make movements. We were shocked. We could not understand how they could move a person who is still alive into the mortuary," said Kigen’s brother.
"I cannot believe what just happened. How did they establish that I was dead? I did not even know where I was when I regained consciousness, but I thank God for sparing my life. I will serve him for the rest of my life," he said.
Peter Kigen’s family is now accusing the hospital of negligence, according to reports.
Published 29 November 2020, 15:28 IST