Medics’ actions could hurt Covid-19 battle

Medics take samples for coronavirus tests in Eastleigh, Nairobi, May 3. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

Recently, a friend walked into one of the private hospitals in Nairobi seeking treatment for an incessant migraine and insomnia. Her temperature was taken, and she underwent laboratory tests all of which returned normal results.

A simple cough during admission led to her being asked to submit to a Covid-19 test in the hospital’s isolation ward. She asked the medics to clarify why she had to be tested, seeking information on the symptoms she had presented, that led them to believe that she had Covid-19.

This information was not availed and when they continued to insist on her being tested in the isolation ward, she declined. She asked that the test be administered in her room where, according to her, the risk of her getting infected was low. The hospital was adamant that she needed to be tested in the isolation ward, and at her cost.

As the hospital kept on insisting without responding to her questions, she asked that she be discharged. The hospital compelled her to sign a disclaimer which indicated her reluctance to be tested for Covid-19. Curiously, the treatment details in the form had been changed to indicate that she had declined to be tested.

She was warned that upon discharge, police who had been notified of her ‘reluctance to be tested’ would arrest her. Following advice from lawyers, she opted to spend the night and her attending doctor discharged her the following day. The experience left her shaken.

This unfortunate incident caused me to reflect on health facilities’ response to   to Covid-19. In my friend’s case, while the hospital may have intended well in asking her to submit to a test, it failed to provide basic information that would have enabled her to make an informed decision on whether or not she should be tested.

The medics failed explain to her what Covid-19 sympotoms she had exhibited  and why the test had to be administered in an isolation ward. Lack of information caused her to be fearful of the possibility of infection.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time hospitals have been accused of mismanaging situations by failing to provide complete and accurate information to people within their care and the actions of this hospital are likely to undermine any gains that have been made, especially in relation to voluntary testing for Covid-19.

It is therefore imperative that all facilities that have been enjoined in the management and treatment of Covid-19 be sensitised on the importance of transparency in their operations.

Health facilities should invest on ensuring that individuals have access to information in their facilities. Information on a facility’s preparedness to address Covid-19 should be publicly displayed and be available upon request by anyone accessing it for treatment or unrelated issues.

If facilities are undertaking mass testing, the procedure for accessing such treatment should be clear to the person seeking testing and the one administering the test.

Health facilities should publicly display and avail, upon request, information on how a possible Covid-19 patient, who might have attended the hospital for different treatment, would be treated.

Medical tests

The protocols on handling such patient must be clear and should be clearly and comprehensively explained to a possible Covid-19 patient before any action is taken.

It is this information that will enable individuals to make informed decisions on testing – after all, the right to consent to treatment or medical tests has not been suspended.

Forced testing should be discouraged. Health workers should be trained to deal with patients with empathy–unlike what happened in my friend’s case where she was frustrated and intimidated by the very health workers who earlier on had attended to her without raising any alarm.

Ultimately, as private health actors have been enjoined by the government in the fight against Covid-19, they must not engage in actions that could have a chilling effect on provision of health care and access to health facilities.

They must be sensitised on human rights principles and standards and should mainstream transparency and access to information in their operations and corresponding guidelines on how patients can hold medics and hospital administrators accountable for actions that flout these principles and standards.

Ms Minayo is an advocate of the High Court