Newborn baby dies as doctors’ strike bites hard

By MICHAEL WESONGA and KENNEDY OKWAACH

Elegeyo Marakwet county: A newborn baby died yesterday in Iten Town after the mother failed to find doctors to help her deliver safely as operations in public health institutions across Elgeyo/Marakwet County remained paralysed.

The expectant mother was rushed by Good Samaritans to a nearby private clinic but lost the baby due to what doctors described prolonged labour.

Gates at the Iten County Referral Hospital, the largest health facility in the county, remained shut forcing patients to seek medical services at private clinics.

The situation is dire, forcing relatives to discharge their kin that were undergoing treatment at the institution, preferring to take care of them at home.

Local Governor Alex Tolgos has appealed to retired health workers to volunteer and render their services to arrest the situation that has already gone out of hand.

At Kapenguria District Hospital, relatives and caretakers of patients assumed nursing roles as the strike that entered its fifth day yesterday.

It was a torturous experience for the “quack nurses” as they tried to save the lives of their loved ones, some writhing in pain as they watched helplessly.

In ward three, Boaz Kiptoo continued to nurse his 15-year-old boy who had a broken ankle. Mr Kiptoo, who had spent two days at the hospital before the start of the strike said he feared that if the injury on his son’s ankle was not nursed in time, it could get worse. “I have been here for quite some days and since there is no need to continue staying here without services, I will be leaving today,” explained Kiptoo.

In Uasin Gishu, enraged Governor Jackson Mandago declared that public health practitioners in the county would no longer be allowed to operate private facilities at the expense of public coffers.

“We are ready to employ other personnel if they are unwilling to work. You cannot enjoy your good time while patients die, if it’s dying, we must all die,” he said.

In Kakamega, the entrance to Kakamega Provincial Hospital is firmly under lock and key and no person is allowed to enter. Some critically injured patients were being directed by guards to private hospitals.

“My husband was involved in motorcycle accident and we are being told to take him to a private hospital. If I had money I couldn’t have brought him here in the first place. I went to one but they couldn’t touch him before I pay Sh10,000.

“Is he going to die because of this strike, yet I pay taxes to get efficient services?” asked an agitated Velma Atsieno.

Mental patients in the hospital have been left unattended while more than 1,000 HIV positive patients receiving anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) from the hospital are now going without drugs following the strike.