How doctors at India's Devamatha Hospital strived to save ex-premier
Health & Science
By
Mercy Kahenda
| Oct 17, 2025
A doctor at Devamatha Hospital in Korela, India, has explained efforts made to save former Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga’s life.
Dr Sr Alphons, a cardiologist at the facility, said Raila was received at the casual emergency medicine section of the hospital after a sudden collapse.
The collapse happened during the former premier’s morning walk at the country’s Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre.
Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre referred the Kenyan icon to Devamatha as it specialises in therapy. It does not have conventional medical services.
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It emerged that Raila died from blockage of blood vessels in the heart, according to doctors who reviewed him at Devamatha.
At Devamatha, the doctor said, Raila underwent Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
She said an emergency intubation that involved putting a tube in the respiratory system’s trachea was done, while doctors continued CPR along with other resuscitation measures to save his life.
No pulse or blood pressure (BP) was recorded at that point.
“After doing intubation with the continued CPR, we shifted the patient to our ICU with all the staff and the facilities,” Dr Alphons said in an interview with an Indian media.
She said Raila responded at the ICU, with some rhythm on the monitor, that showed ST Segment (part of the heart’s electrical tracing) elevation in the electrocardiogram (ECG).
Doctors further observed motion abnormalities that included reduced movement of one artery territory.
Alphons said Raila was stabilised with some Intravenous (IV) fluid, and an injection was administered to help dissolve the clot that had formed on the lower limb.
The doctor noted that, at such, Raila was seen with significant oedema (swelling) of the right lower limb.
“He had right lower limb Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) for which he was put on Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filter, and recently, he had a thin subdural hematoma last Saturday when it was done that was very thin,” added the doctor.
After consultations, Raila’s doctors at the facility went ahead with thrombolysis (blood clot) treatment with continued CPR, but sadly, Raila succumbed to a heart attack.
“With all other criteria, we continued CPR. Despite our very sincere, very continued CPR and other measures, we couldn’t make him survive. So we are very sorry to inform you that he is with us no more, and our very sincere condolences and prayers for his family and for the Kenyan people,” said the doctor.
Alphons noted that the medical history shared with the facility indicated that Raila was a diabetic, hypertensive and a chronic kidney disease patient.
President of Kenya Cardiac Society and a senior cardiologist, Mzee Ngunga, explained to The Standard that a heart attack happens when arteries are blocked. Arteries supply blood to the heart. The blockage is usually triggered by a clot.
The clot develops within the artery, and the heart muscles downstream start to die immediately.
As such, an abnormal heart rhythm may develop, and the heart may also stop, which is known as cardiac arrest.
“Usually, the chief driver of heart attack is cholesterol, with other triggers being diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking and unhealthy lifestyle and eating, lack of exercise and stress,” said Dr Ngunga.
Surgeries that are not heart-related may also cause heart attacks as a result of a blood clot.
Before the blockage of the arteries, a patient develops chest pain and shortness of breath. Additionally, Duncan Killingo, a cardiologist, said conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, high blood pressure, and advanced age are major triggers of cardiovascular diseases.
Dr Killingo noted that the risk of suffering a heart attack increases as a person grows older.
According to Killingo, diabetic patients are particularly vulnerable because cholesterol tends to deposit in their blood vessels, narrowing them and reducing blood flow to the heart.
“A person with combined conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, and hypertension is four times more likely to suffer a heart attack,” said Killingo.
To prevent heart attacks, Ngunga emphasised the importance of controlling risk factors that trigger diabetes, kidney disease, and hypertension, as well as ensuring early medical intervention whenever a heart attack occurs.
Though it is delicate to treat, heart attacks are treatable if a patient attends timely care and hospital visits.
“A patient who develops a heart attack should be rushed to the hospital immediately for dispensation of medicines to dissolve the clot, or surgery can be done to remove the clot in the artery. This can be life-saving,” says Ngunga.
“What determines whether a patient shall be cured of a heart attack is how soon they get to the hospital before the heart muscles die, which leads to heart failure, and development of abnormal heart rhythms,” he added.
However, a high percentage of people who develop heart attacks die before getting to the hospital because it occurs suddenly, and at night.
Though a doctor who attended to Mr Odinga said he had DVT, the condition, according to Ngunga, rarely causes heart attacks, only in special conditions where there is a connection between the right and left heart.
“People can have DVT and the clot goes to the heart through a big vein, and if the patient has a connection between the right and left side of the heart, the clot can cross from the right to the left side, entering arteries and causing a heart attack,” he explained.
Killingo explained that DVT is the formation of a blood clot in the veins, often in the lower limbs, as may have been the case with Odinga.
He added that a DVT can migrate from the lower limbs to the heart and lungs, causing pulmonary embolism and, in severe cases, cardiac arrest.
Patients who present with DVT are often given blood thinners, and when this is not feasible for some reason, IVC filters can be implanted to prevent blood clots from moving to the lungs and heart, which could lead to sudden death.
To prevent heart attacks, doctors also focus on treating underlying conditions such as kidney disease, diabetes, and hypertension, which increase cardiovascular risk.
Killingo emphasised the need for early treatment of high cholesterol levels and other cardiovascular disease risks, as well as timely detection of heart attacks to save lives.
Individuals with coronary artery diseases may undergo revascularisation with either angioplasty or bypass grafting, where necessary, to ensure smooth blood flow to the heart muscles, while diseases that trigger heart attacks must be well managed,” said Killingo.
Before being attended to at the facility where he was pronounced dead, Mr Odinga was undergoing ayurvedic therapy at Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre, where his daughter Rosemary Odinga had her eyesight treated.