Relief as KNH pledges to open TB isolation ward

NAIROBI, KENYA: The Ministry of Health has moved to assure Tuberculosis patients that the closed isolation ward at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) will be opened in a couple of months.

With multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) patients being turned away, the ministry defended the move to close the ward, saying this was meant to protect health workers by renovating the facility.

This comes as details emerged that a patient suffering from MDR-TB had died while waiting for the facility to be reopened.

According to the head of TB programme in the ministry, Dr Jackson Kioko, the facility was in the final phase of renovations. He said that prior to its closure, it had emerged that the ward was no longer safe for health workers. "Though the number of MDR cases is on the increase, normal TB cases are on the downward trend as we work with the county governments in addressing the disease," he said. He downplayed shortage of TB drugs in the country but admitted there was a 'looming' shortage. Kioko said the country had enough stocks to last up to September 2015. He however admitted the ministry had received assistance from Malawi.

"We had to borrow some drugs from Malawi due to some procurement hiccups but this has since been resolved," he said.

Earlier, the Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium had said the Government was yet to procure TB drugs since May, when the Malawi Government chipped in.

According to the consortium's senior TB advocacy manager Evaline Kibuchi, the Government borrowed drugs from Malawi as a stop-gap measure to address the shortage. "After this temporary fix, the Government is yet to procure more drugs and the borrowed consignment is only enough to last the country up to December," she said.