Equipped to care: Kijabe Hospital gets life-saving machine

Technicians at AIC Kijabe Hospital's Radiology department scan an accident victim using a new state of the art 16-slice Siemens Somaton CT-scanner. The equipment is said to be lifesaving especially for emergency patients [GARDY CHACHA/STANDARD]

NAIROBI: Wednesday, October 7, 2015, Kenyans woke to the sad story of a man staring into the abyss of death. Alex Madaga, it was reported, had been a victim of hit-and-run along Waiyaki way in Nairobi.

The driver left him for dead but he would soon discover that the Kenyan health system was about to do worse: Watch, on the sidelines, without apparent concern to save his life.

The accident survivor ended up spending 18 hours in an ambulance waiting for ICU services at four different hospitals before he was finally admitted at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). Two days later on October 9, 37- year-old Madaga was dead. And just like that, he became a statistic. Just another pedestrian’s life cut short on the Nakuru-Nairobi Highway.

Latest data from the National Transport and Safety Authority indicates that Kenya loses at least 3,000 people annually from road accidents, with close to half being pedestrians.

The Nakuru-Nairobi highway has particularly drawn attention for its ‘gothic’ thirst for human life.

Just last year, in March 2014, a Hertfordshire based British company, Driving Experiences, published a survey that placed Nairobi-Nakuru highway among 22 most dangerous roads to drive on in the world. It was one in the only two African roads to be listed, coming three places behind the most dangerous road in Bolivia.

“The highway is notorious for drunk-driving combined with speeding, poor overtaking and pedestrians in the road,” it stated in its assessment. Other variables that contribute to the roads notoriety are altitude, lack of barriers, driving techniques, the condition of vehicles and the weather.

The best hospital along this highway, AIC Kijabe Hospital, located about 15km off the road, has for many years been forced to refer many patients brought into its gates (often victims of road accidents) to Nairobi, a whole hour’s drive.

“We may have the expertise, but without the right equipment we are forced to refer patients to facilities that can offer specialised care,” offers Dr Mardi Steere, the hospital’s Medical Director.

She adds: “Once so often, we receive a few patients from minor accidents. Then there are days, in a month or two, we receive mass victims from major crashes.”

When we visited Kijabe Hospital’s accident ward, we found nearly all beds occupied. The last three months Steere and her team have been upbeat – using Siemens Somatom Emotion 16-slice CT scanner – providing modern medical care that she says is crucial for survival of critical accident patients.

The equipment, which costs about Sh28,000,000 on average, could only be obtained through a public-private partnership between the institution and Jamu Imaging Centre. The hospital could not afford to buy one on its own. Previously, the hospital has had to rely on old technology, the X-ray machine, whose old technology is slow and limited in diagnostic capabilities.

“We struggle daily to meet medical needs of the hospital. The 16-sclice CT-scanner greatly improves chances of critical patients’ survival. Without this machine we could have lost a young Maasai boy called Tonge. He was the first patient to be diagnosed by this machine. He was in a coma and the CT-scanner proved to be the critical factor in saving his life,” Steere said.

According to Professor George Magoha, Chairman of Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board (KMPDB), it is only logical that a facility such as Kijabe Hospital, on a major highway prone to accidents, should have a life-saving machine such as the 16-slice CT scanner.

“Kenya has very serious medical problems. Often, patients die because intervention was not done in time. This should change,” he said.

The scanner is capable of scanning for surgical, orthopedic and medical conditions. It can diagnose blood clots and unmask brain aneurysms from wherever they are hiding. In radiology, “it is on its own league,” says radiology specialist, Dr Peter Umara, who is also Executive Director of Jamu Imaging Centre.

With purchase of this machine, the hospital now becomes the only facility, between Nairobi and Nakuru, that has this technology with the CT-scanner is also expected to serve patients from: Nakuru, Narok, Nyandarua, Kajiado and Kiambu.

The death of Alex Madaga illuminated the despicable state of Kenya’s healthcare system. From an ongoing inquiry, it has emerged that his life could have been saved if medical personnel acted quickly. Except for one instance (where it is said he was denied admission for lack money) all other efforts to get him emergency care were hampered due to lack of ICU equipment.

Following his accident, Madaga was first rushed to Kikuyu Mission Hospital where the doctors referred him to KNH - which is considered the highest ranked referral facility in the country. A desperate Mrs Madaga, Jessica Moraa, was quoted telling of the deadlock that her family faced trying to find their kin critical medical care. She said: “We had to wait in the ambulance because there was no beds at the ICU nor a ventilator to help his breathing. He was only admitted 18 hours from the time of the accident.”

KNH’s Deputy Director for Clinical Services, Dr Simon Monda told the Press that the hospital could not admit Madaga because “all 21 beds in the ICU were occupied.” A preliminary inquiry committee set up by KMPDB has concluded that KNH and Coptic Hospital have a case to answer in the man’s death with the latter being questioned over their decision to demand a Sh200,000 deposit before taking in the patient.

The committee decided against further investigations against the Nairobi Women’s Hospital and Ladnan Hospital as it emerged that all ICU beds at the two institutions had been occupied.

“The gentleman who died while waiting for admission at a hospital did not get quick medical attention. When one is involved in a major accident and is bleeding in the head, all doctors know how fatal the situation is for the patient. Timely response is critical,” Prof Magoha said.

Sadly, when Madaga’s postmortem is done and documented, it will not contain phrases like, ‘no ICU beds’ or ‘lack of money to pay for emergency treatment’. And his is a fate suffered by numerous other Kenyans who, despite being in need of urgent, immediate action, are left unattended for lack of equipment.

While the 16-slice CT scanner at Kijabe Hospital will go a long way in helping save lives, it’s just a matter of time before it gets weighed down by the sheer numbers of those in need.

The Ministry of Health needs to work towards equipping more hospitals with such life-saving technology so that Kenyans from all walks of life can get the care they need, when they need it.