Striking doctors throw public hospitals into crisis

At least seven patients died on Monday at the start of a nationwide strike by medical workers, while thousands of others were discharged prematurely from deserted hospitals.

Four patients were confirmed dead hours into the strike at Kiambu and Mbagathi district hospitals, one in Kisumu, and two others at Kinango, but the Nation could not confirm what they were ailing from or whether their deaths could have been prevented.

At Mbagathi, another three patients were left to drift into semi-consciousness, without drugs or any other care, as doctors and nurses kept off the facility.

Around the country, medical workers made good their threat to down their tools and either abandoned or discharged their patients.

The Nation witnessed the harrowing scenes of expectant mothers in labour were turned away in Kisumu, burn victims left to squirm in the sun without as much as a painkiller in Nyeri, premature babies left to their fate in incubators in Kisii, and traffic accident victims abandoned to die in public wards in Mombasa.

And in boardrooms in Nairobi, technocrats scratched their heads for the better part of the day, caught flat-footed by an industrial action that has been looming for months.

On the morning after President Uhuru Kenyatta’s last-minute attempts to call a truce failed when doctors refused to show up at the negotiating table at Afya House, the Ministry of Health and representatives from the Council of Governors said they would set up a technical committee to settle the impasse between the medics and their employers.

EFFECTS OF THE STRIKE

But the meeting came too late as the effects of the strike hit. In Bungoma, a guard emerged as the unlikely hero when he helped an expectant mother deliver a boy inside an abandoned hospital.

Mr Benson Wanyonyi was manning the gate at the hospital when the expectant woman, named as Ms Rosebela Marani, 32, went into labour and called for help.

“I was at the main entrance when the lady was brought in on a motorcycle,” said Mr Wanyonyi. “She then learned that the workers were on strike and was contemplating rushing to a nearby private facility but she was overwhelmed. I ran to the outpatient department and got some gloves and assisted her,” he said. The baby boy was said to be in a stable condition.

In Uasin-Gishu County, patients who went to seek treatment at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) were turned away.

Ms Tabitha Bitali said she had been attending clinics at the facility for the past 11 months and was due to undergo an operation on the goitre on Monday.

“We’ve been waiting since morning but nobody is talking to me. The government should address this issue once and for all,” said Ms Bitali, displaying her medical report.

Ms Christine Kedimo, a mother of a six-year-old boy, had travelled all the way from Tabach in West-Pokot County only to be told that she would not be attended to.

“My son was due to see a doctor after his pelvic bone got fractured following a fall. I’ve been told to seek medication in private facilities but I cannot afford it. I don’t know what to do next,” said Ms Kedimo.

But the hospital’s director, Dr Wilson Aruasa, said they were operating normally since nurses were on duty.

“Emergency cases are being taken care of. All patients are being attended to,” said Dr Aruasa.

At the Baringo County Referral Hospital in Kabarnet Ms Lisah Chesang, a mother of two from Barwessa in Baringo North Sub-County,  was supposed to undergo a Caesarean Section but was turned away in the morning.

TURNED AWAY

“I am very much disappointed because I had come to give birth only to be turned away because there was no surgeon at the hospital theatre. I have no money because I thought it would be catered for through the free maternity services programme,” lamented Ms Chesang.

She said that she was asked to look for funds and seek help at Mercy Hospital in Eldama-Ravine Sub-County.

In Trans-Nzoia, Governor Patrick Khaemba declared the strike illegal and asked the doctors to resume duty immediately “since there was a court order suspending it to give room for talks.”

“Those on strike should know that they are doing it illegally,” Mr Khaemba told journalists at the county offices in Kitale.

In West-Pokot County, Mr Benard Chetukei from Kaptabuk area in South Pokot Sub County whose legs were fractured following an accident said he had not received treatment since he arrived at Kapenguria Hospital on Monday at noon.

“We travelled for more than 50 kilometers to come to Kapenguria but we have not been attended to,” said Mr Chetukei’s father, Loiterei Chetukei.

In Kisii, a young boy was last evening fighting for his life at the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital after he was left unattended at the Intensive Care Unit.

The family of the 15-year-old, who only received his KCPE results last Friday, feared for the worst as they could not afford to transfer him to any other facility.

His father, Mr John Ogutu, said he could not afford to transfer him to a private hospital because most of them have no ICU services.

He said the son fell from a tree approximately two weeks ago and had been at the ICU since then. He sustained serious lung injuries that led to difficulties in breathing.

The father said he made a desperate call to Tenwek Mission Hospital in Bomet only to be informed that the unit was already full and could not admit more ICU patients.

“I tried to reach the hospital but they told me that all beds in the ICU were occupied. I have no option but to remain here and take care of my son. I hope the strike ends soon,” Mr Ogutu said.

He told the Nation that nurses were asking him to take away his ailing son but he said he refused because he did not want to risk the boy’s life.

He said he was hoping that a doctor who had promised to sneak into the hospital would not bow to pressure from his striking colleagues and fail to keep his word.

At the same facility, an underage girl who had prematurely given birth at six months was forced to leave the hospital with her child. An administrative police officer attached to the hospital bought the desperate girl sheets to cover the baby as she did not have any clothing when she was herded out of the wards.

At the nursery, the Nation found three premature babies left to their fate, with no nurse in sight. The nurses also threatened to set free all the mentally-challenged persons in the hospital if their relatives do not pick them up on Tuesday.

SUCCUMBED TO INJURIES

In western Kenya, patients were turned away by support staff in public hospitals in Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay, Vihiga, Kakamega and Kericho.

A boda boda rider who was a victim of an accident involving a lorry within Homa Bay town became the first casualty of the strike after he succumbed to his injuries at the Homa Bay county referral hospital.

Mr Moses Agulo Oyugi, 30, died at the facility after medical staff failed to attend to him. County police commander John Omusanga said the rider was transferred to the facility by a Good Samaritan for treatment on Monday. His body was later taken to the county hospital mortuary.

Patients turned away in Kisumu included Mr Charles Otieno who had serious burn wounds on the face, arms and limbs, as well as Ms Elizabeth Owino, a pregnant mother in labour.

Mr Otieno, who spent a better part of the morning asking for help from staff of the Kisumu county hospital, writhed in pain all day, but nurses taunted him to seek care from the county governor, Mr Jack Ranguma.

“I have requested the nurses to give us our files so that we can seek help elsewhere but it’s like there is not one to attend to us,” Mr Otieno told the Nation.

At the Kakamega County Hospital’s Ward One, Mr Joseph Chimwani, who has been receiving treatment for paralysis was at a loss after his relatives came to have him discharged and take him home.

“I’m worried about the strike since my condition will get worse without treatment and the worst could happen,” said Mr Chimwani. His relatives said they planned to take him home .

In Vihiga county, the four main hospitals remained deserted with patients and their relatives left stranded.

This included eight-year-old Hildah Andisi, who is suffering from a strange disease that has left her left leg, stomach and head swollen. Andisi had been rescued by Governor Moses Akaranga from a rented house in Majengo.

In Mombasa, Ms Lucy Mwangi, a mother of a 40-year-old man who was admitted at Port Reitz District Hospital in a coma, was on Monday distraught, begging doctors to treat her son. But the health workers at the second largest public hospital in the region refused to treat him.

Ms Mwangi cried bitterly urging the doctors to at least prescribe some medications to her son.

Dr Robert Mutie, a lawyer, has urged the medics to go back to work because many Kenyans are suffering.

"Kindly, I beg them to go back to their respective hospitals and attend to the sick brothers and sisters...in the next elections elect good leaders who will cater for your good pay," he said.

NEED URGENT MEDICATION

“They have discharged my son but where do I go with a patient who is in a coma? Other patients have left but I can’t leave with him in this condition. Just look at him,” she said in tears.

Ms Mwangi said his son, who suffers from depression, needed urgent medication.

“He was admitted since December 1 and doctors said they wanted to monitor him closely. But now that they have asked us to leave what do I do? If only the President could know how much we are suffering he would do something,” she said.

As patients writhed in pain and neglect around the country, Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu was meeting with officials from the Council of Governors and PS Nicholas Muraguri at Afya House into sort out the escalating mess.

They resolved to set up a committee to study what was wrong with the health sector, but could not agree on the timelines, with Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua saying the team needed “reasonable time.”

Earlier, Dr Mailu had expressed his frustrations with the medics, saying their union had acted in bad faith after they failed to turn up for meetings on Sunday and Monday.

“Nobody has reached out to me,” he said, adding that “I don’t care whether they respect me and the others, but Kenyans are going to suffer the most in this mess”.

Dr Mailu said that the courts had given the ministry a 90-day window to sort out the matter, which would have elapsed on January 5, 2017.
“They walked from the negotiating table and issued a strike notice,” Dr Mailu lamented.