It’s not all gloom as health makes strides

Doctors attend to baby Blessing, one Blessing is one of the conjoined twins separated from her sister in a 23-hour surgery at Kenyatta National Hospital. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • It was a historic moment in Mombasa in July 2015 after Coast General Hospital conducted the first open-heart surgery in the region.
  • Mandera has been ranked as the region with the highest number of maternal deaths.

When Kenya’s new Constitution was promulgated in 2010, it paved the way for devolution of most functions to the newly formed county governments.

This was a sweeping move that saw key issues such as healthcare put entirely in the hands of county administrations. While devolution has not been a runaway success—plagued by corruption allegations with some counties submitting overly ambitious budgets—it has been a boon for development in other counties.

We look at some of the milestones in the health sector:

NAIROBI:

After 23 hours of surgery, conjoined twins began a new life apart, thanks to an intricate round-the-clock operation by doctors at Kenyatta National Hospital last year in November.

The team of 60 specialists, among them neurosurgeons and plastic surgeons was led by the hospital’s chief paediatric surgeon, Dr Fred Kambuni , and the University of Nairobi’s head of neurosurgery, Prof Nimrod Mwang’ombe.

The twins shared a rectum, pelvic organs, spinal cord, spinal nerves and genitalia. “We knew where we were going to start from and what steps would follow.

The game plan was to start from the front so as to free all the pelvic organs from the bone of the spine before proceeding to the back side,” said Dr Christopher Musau, a lead neurosurgeon.

The girls had been admitted in KNH’s specialised paediatric ward for over two years. Doctors were waiting for their key organs to develop.

COAST:

It was a historic moment in Mombasa in July 2015 after Coast General Hospital conducted the first open-heart surgery in the region. Mombasa-based cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Sore Aseyo led a team of 12 heart specialists from KNH to perform the surgery, which became the first to be conducted in a public hospital outside the country’s leading referral facility.

A 40-year-old woman and a secondary school student were the first to undergo the operation. Five patients suffering from rheumatic heart disease were on the list of beneficiaries.

The surgeries were organised by the county government, which saw it set up a special theatre for the procedures. “It is a breakthrough for this region’s medical fraternity; it is a big thing. It will be the first in a public hospital outside Nairobi,” said Dr Aseyo.

BOMET
Longisa County Referral Hospital last year performed its first knee replacement surgery on a 68-year-old patient. The patient was charged Sh3,000. Dr Bernard Sowek, Health Chief Officer while describing the procedure as a major milestone said the patient was fitted with an artificial implant in her knee.

“This has not been done in any public health facility in the South Rift.” he added. Dr Sowek said the operation would have cost the patient between Sh400,000 and Sh600,000 in a private hospital.

MANDERA

It has been ranked as the region with the highest number of maternal deaths. Given the insecurity and rough terrains, it has been an arduous task for health workers in this county to save the lives of women who have difficulty in having normal deliveries.

Even worse was the lack of proper facilities in the county that could perform emergency Caesarean sections. But Mandera’s infrastructure has greatly improved, thanks to devolution. For instance, it now has tarmacked roads and a new airport. “Before 2013 there was only one doctor in the entire county,” says Health Executive Ahmed Sheikh. But this is not the case any more. Things also took a positive turn in 2015 when Mandera County hospital performed its first ever C-section.

MAKUENI
When Sarah Mwalimu was admitted at Kibwezi sub-county Hospital last year after being diagnosed with blood pressure, her relatives prepared to sell two goats to facilitate her medication.

But the hospital staff informed her about the free healthcare plan.

“I immediately informed my family and we registered for the scheme,” she said. She spent two weeks in hospital and her family paid only Sh500, thanks to the healthcare plan that the county unveiled in October last year.  In the first month, over 4, 000 families registered for the plan, according to Health Executive Andrew Mulwa.

WAJIR
The county government has built a fully-fledged medical training college. The 56th Kenya Medical Training College Campus sitting on a 10-hectares piece of land was built at a cost of Sh250 million.

GARISSA

Balambala and Modogashe sub-county hospitals made history after the first Cesarean sections were conducted in the hospitals’ newly furnished theatres.

Reporting by Eunice Kilonzo, Elizabeth Merab and Verah Okeyo