Hospital swamped as patient numbers swell

The Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital [File, Standard]

The ongoing ="https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&cx=011965659370381653902:7awkdkhs2_y&q=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/health/health-science/article/2001396626/patients-suffer-as-nurses-clinicians-in-public-hospitals-strike&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiflPv6hrDuAhXARBUIHareCosQFjACegQIBxAC&usg=AOvVaw0d_mM7ZkgE9hbOUgIs7UP_">strike by clinical officers< and nurses has worsened capacity issues at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH).

CEO Wilson Aruasa said the number of patients at the facility had risen, with most of them coming from Rift Valley, Western and parts of Nyanza.

Most patients received at the hospital are seeking medical, surgical, emergency and intensive care unit (ICU) services.

The facility, with a capacity of about 1,000 inpatients, currently has more than 1,300 people admitted.

Aruasa said the numbers of patients had been increasing since the strike began on December 7 last year, with outpatients rising from about 1,200 a day to more than 1,600.

“The number of patients attended to has almost doubled. Most of the cases are self-referrals from about 23 counties,” said Aruasa.

The hospital, located in Eldoret, has 30 general ICU beds and six paediatric ICU beds, which are all full to capacity.

The CEO said due to the high number of patients in need of specialised care, the hospital had increased the number of high dependency units (HDU) from 10 to 16.

Patients in need of ICU services are mostly those who have undergone medical and surgical operations, trauma or have medical conditions like heart disease, said Aruasa.