Shocked doctors remove 13 needles inside a 10 month-old infant.

Jacinta Ndunge and her daughter during the interview. INSET: An X-Ray image showing the pins that had been lodged inside the infant's body.

Doctors at Thika Level 5 Hospital are baffled to find 14 needles inside a 10 month-old infant whose mother claims that she has no idea how they got inside her daughter’s body.

The pins had been lodged in the infant’s buttocks and thigh.

About a fortnight ago, Jacinta Ndunge rushed her daughter to the hospital for what she suspected to be a Pneumonia attack where she was admitted. But things out bizarre when she was pricked by a sharp object as she was apply jelly on her daughter. Upon keen observation, she saw something that looked like a pin and alerted the nurses on duty who later called the doctor.

“When the doctor came, he discovered that my daughter had a needle inside her buttocks. He performed a minor surgery and removed it. But further investigations revealed that there were more needles prompting him to order for an emergency X-Ray,” narrated the 31 year-old mother of four.

After performing the X-Ray, doctors discovered that Baby Jane Wairimu had 13 other needles inside her buttocks and thigh. They were able to remove 13 of them, leaving behind one of them which is said to have penetrated to the hip bone and needed specialised attention.

Confirming the case, Kiambu County Health Chief Officer Dr. Joshua Andrew Toro said; “Removing an object like that from the child’s body is dangerous and could damage blood vessels, nerves, trigger infections and could even cause death.”

However, he assured that the child was stable.

Neither the mother nor the medics have any idea how the needles ended up there, or whether they were deliberately inserted.

“I’ve never seen a case like this. I got so scared after seeing the X-Ray and the needles. I really don't know how the pins got inside my daughter’s body. But now it’s like I have a new life. I am very thankful to the doctors here for everything and I am optimistic that they are going to successfully remove the remaining needle,” said Ndunge who is a resident of Kiganjo Estate in Thika.