RAILA EXPLAINS WHAT MADE HER DAUGHTER GO BLIND

Former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, has opened up about his daughter Rosemary Odinga’s illness and the circumstances that led to her suffering eyesight complications that had rendered her partially blind.

In a sit-down with Asian News International (ANI) on Sunday, February 13, the former Prime Minister revealed that Rosemary’s illness manifested roughly three years ago.

He explained that she developed a brain haemorrhage and was rushed to a hospital in Nairobi but the resultant surgery interfered with her optical nerve.

After the blunder, Raila and his family then embarked on a journey in search of corrective surgery that would restore her eyesight but for some time, it proved futile

“My daughter got sick about three years ago. She had some haemorrhage in the brain and as a result, she was operated on in Nairobi. In the process of the operation they interfered with her optic nerve.

“We then transferred her to South Africa for treatment. She was treated there for three months. Unfortunately, she was not able to recover her eyesight. We sent her to Israel and again they did not do much,” stated the former Prime Minister.

In the months that followed, she was taken to China and Japan but none of the hospitals were equipped well enough to handle the corrective surgery.

“She came back to Kenya and we sent her to China. They did surgery on her and it did not quite help her regain her sight. We sent her to Germany where they did electrode treatment. Also, that was not successful,” he added.

The family was almost giving up when a friend mentioned to them about a little-known Indian hospital that specialises in eye treatment called Sreedhareeyam Group of Institutions.

Rosemary was taken to the institution for treatment in 2019 and a procedure, known as Ayurvedic, was carried out on her for three weeks. She spent an additional three months in India receiving medical care.

“A friend of mine came and suggested that that there is an institution in India that does Ayurvedic treatment that you should try. We decided to try and sent her at this centre in 2019. She stayed there for three weeks where they administered treatment to her.

“When they discharged her, they said that she should stay and continue medication for three months,” he recalled.

The former Prime Minister was then contacted and asked to carry out tests on her in Nairobi to assess her condition.

“In December that year, they called me to take her for a test in Nairobi. I took her to an eye specialist who said that there was substantial improvement to her eyes and if we prescribed some glasses, she could actually see.

“When she put them on, she started seeing. She called me in amazement. This was a pleasant surprise to my family,” explained Raila.

Her next trip to the South Asian nation for check up, which had been slated for early 2020, was, however, impeded by the pandemic forcing her to postpone to 2022.

Both Raila and Rosemary are in India where she is under medical check up at Sreedhareeyam Hospital.

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