11 test positive for lead poisoning

One of the wards at Portreitz District Hospital set for lead poisoning victims. Many residents of Owino Uhuru slums have been affected by lead poisoning. [Photo: Omondi Onyango/Standard]

Mombasa County medical authorities have announced that 11 out of 55 tested samples taken from residents of Owino Uhuru slums have showed abnormal levels of lead in their blood.

Yesterday, doctors at two special wards at Port Reitz Hospital treating exposure to lead from effluents of a now shut battery plant in the slums warned that all the 55 samples showed evidence of exposure to the metal in varying degrees.

They called for the relocation of the over 5,000 residents of the slums to safer ground, indicating that the samples showed that the areas around the Kenya Metal Refineries in Jomvu were still highly contaminated.

Medics also called for additional tests of hair and urine samples to determine the extent of long term exposure on adults and children. They warned that in future poisoned residents might develop low sperm count in men, development problems in children and infertility in women.

Consultant Pathologist and Lancet Kenya Managing Director Ahmed Kalebi said all the 55 blood samples had tested positive of traces of lead poisoning but 11 showed abnormal levels of the metal.

The doctors said they are worried that the lead poisoning might lead to kidney and brain complications following years of exposure, and ordered for more test.

The tests are just some of many done on the area since an exclusive story on the poisoning was aired recently by KTN in an investigative exposé that shocked the nation.

"All results from the area showed that the residents were exposed to lead. Out of the 55, 11 had level compatible with poisoning, three had very high levels while eight were mild and even though all had traces of lead, non-had highly toxic levels that need admission," said Dr Kalebi.

He said doctors were also treating children whose samples showed that they had levels of over five micrograms of lead per decilitre in their blood and considered them poisoned.

"What we are most worried about are kidney complications and we will be conducting test on the  kidneys of the residents to see how they are functioning," said the doctor.

Kalebi, who was speaking at the  hospital where the county government has set up an isolation ward for residents exposed to the lead, expressed fears that it could be more widespread than earlier thought.

"If the factory was closed over a year ago and samples of these people have traces of the metal, it shows that they were highly exposed because lead lasts in the blood for about a month," said Kalebi.

"The people need to be removed from the site of exposure because the longer they stay in the area, the more the lead continue to harm their bodies," he added.

Yesterday, Mombasa County Chief Medical Officer Khadija Shikelly said the county government would launch an outreach programme today to test all the residents and neighbouring villages that might have been exposed to lead poisoning in the area.

chelation therapy

"The county government will set up camps at Uhuru Owino from tomorrow (today) to reach out to the people and test them for poisoning," said Dr Shikelly.

The county government has procured medicine from the UK for treatment of the infected persons in the area. She said the team, which will comprise of nurses, clinical officers, nutritionists and specialised doctors headed by Dr Bajaber and Dr Ochieng, will screen the residents for lead poisoning and offer symptomatic and chelation therapy (medication that binds lead to be excreted as urine from the body).

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho yesterday said the factory's owners should be prosecuted.

"We cannot condone this wanton killing of our people by those whose only interest is to make money. Those Indian investors have left but we are aware that there are other people behind the factory still around and they should be arrested regardless of their status," said Mr Joho.

A report by the Senate Committee on Health recommended that the MP Hezron Awiti Bolo should be investigated, saying that allegations against him were a "serious indictment to the honorable Member of Parliament".

The committee chaired by Isiolo Senator Mohammed Kuti also asks the Government to take action against managers of Kenya Metals Refineries limited.

Awiti, however, claimed that his political rivals were using journalists to fight him.

"I have no problem with them (reporters) because they are doing what they are paid to do. I'll deal with those who sent the dogs and not the dogs," said Awiti during a press conference.

Yesterday Joho said that county health officials will team up with other Government agencies to decontaminate the area.