Govt to seek court order in bid to access Mombasa factory in lead poisoning case
Mombasa County Health Executive Binti Omar speaks to journalists in her office. She said test results from their findings showed that 15 people from Owino Uhuru slum had high levels of lead in their blood. Health officials are yet to access the factory suspected to be behind the poisoning. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- A ministry official told journalists that the government will be forced to seek alternative ways, including getting a court order, to access the factory.
- On Saturday a team of scientists visited the factory but the manager also said he was not in possession of the keys.
- County Health Executive Binti Omar said test results from their findings showed that 15 people had high levels of lead in their blood.
The government will now be compelled to seek a court order to access a shut battery recycling factory suspected to be the source of lead poisoning at a slum in Mombasa.
Efforts by a team of from the Ministry of Health to access the factory at Owino Uhuru slum proved futile after a manager told them the keys were with the owners.
On Friday the team led by the Director of Preventive and Promotive Health Service Jackson Kioko, tried to gain access to the factory but found it locked.
“The keys are with the owner, let me try and get them,” the manager told the team on Friday.
On Saturday, a team of scientists led by Dr Nancy Akoit Etiang, a lead investigator at the Department of Disease Prevention and Control, visited the factory but the manager also said he was not in possession of the keys.
A ministry official told journalists that the government will be forced to seek alternative ways, including getting a court order, to access the factory.
“We need water tight evidence in case the residents decide to sue the owners of the company; we will have to get a court order.
“They might do anything with the machines. The sooner we get the samples the better,” said a scientist who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The scientist said a clinic will also be set up in the slum and two toxicologists posted there.
On Friday Dr Kioko said they want to get samples from the factory to ascertain whether the high levels of lead found in some residents after tests actually came from the factory.
“Our main concern is about the concentration,” said Dr Kioko.
He warned the parents to be cautious of the environment their children are exposed to.
HIGH LEVELS OF LEAD IN BLOOD
The team also announced that 29 children from the slum near the factory have been found to have high levels of lead in their blood.
Dr Kioko assured the residents of the government’s support and resolve in eradicating lead levels from the affected people.
“The results show that even where we are stepping is contaminated. The dust and soil also have lead.
"Parents should know the children are being exposed when they play on the ground. They will undergo counselling,” he said.
He said the residents will be screened and retested again until the levels reduce.
Dr Etiang said the kids will be retested to ensure their lead levels go below 10 per cent.
“They have been found with lead levels above 10% which is the World Health Organisation’s threshold level. Definitely nobody should have lead levels above 10 per cent,” she said.
“Those with high levels will be rested again. A centre for counselling will be established,” she said.
Earlier, the County Health Executive Binti Omar said test results from their findings showed that 15 people had high levels of lead in their blood.
