It has emerged that ODM leader Raila Odinga is away in India for the treatment of his eldest daughter, Rosemary Odinga.
The former premier has been away from the country since last week when he attended the African Union heads of state summit in Addis Ababa.
His office would later announce that Odinga will also visit Israel and India, but failed to give details of the visits.
On Monday, February 7, an online Indian news outlet revealed that Odinga's visit was a follow-up check-up on his daughter Rosemary's eye ailments. The publication quoted medical sources.
Back in 2017, Rosemary's condition worsened and she lost her eyesight before regaining it.
Odinga's daughter is undergoing treatment at Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre in Koothattukulam, which is 46km from Kochi, a city in southwest India's coastal Kerala state.
According to reports, Rosemary is undergoing Ayurveda, a traditional Indian system of medicine that aims to preserve health and wellness by keeping the mind, body, and spirit in balance and preventing disease rather than treating it.
According to the website, Sreedhareeyam eye treatment centre has been practising ayurvedic eye care traditionally for nearly 300 years now.
The chief physician of the centre, Dr Narayanan Namboothiri, told the daily that Odinga and Rosemary will be at the facility for a couple of days as she undergoes various eye care procedures and treatments prescribed in the traditional ayurvedic system.
Rosemary suffered a minor stroke in February 2017. An operation led to her losing her sight.
In an interview with NTV in December 2019, Odinga recalled the troubles the family underwent as they sought treatment for Rosemary.
“After she lost her eyesight, she went to South Africa for rehab,” Odinga said.
