Patients’ agony as hospital suffers acute shortage of ICU beds

Kenyatta National Hospital has only 21 beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), yet, even in most desperate situations, there should be at least 63 beds and over 125 at the High Dependency Unit (HDU).

The 21 beds are supposed to serve the more than 2,500 patients who flock the facility every day.

The World Health Organisation requires poor countries such as Kenya to have at least one ICU bed and two HDU beds for each 40 patients.

“Sometimes patients die as we watch and there is nothing we can do about it,” said Dr Simeon Monda, the deputy director of clinical services, adding, “Yet we are the only public hospital in this place with ICU.”

There are some units in Mama Lucy Kibaki and Mbagathi hospitals, which apparently, have been referring patients to Kenyatta.

That is why Mr Alex Madaga’s 18-hour wait to access treatment in the ICU is a demonstration of how many Kenyans are on the receiving end of a severely overstretched public healthcare system.

How fast intensive care is given, especially after trauma, which is common in cases of near-fatal accidents such as falls and road accidents, determines whether one survives or not.

Mr Madaga, 37, sustained serious head injuries that left him unconscious. He was also unable to breathe on his own.

He was referred from Kikuyu Hospital. The patient had been taken to two private hospitals that asked for a down payment of Sh200,000 before treatment.

His family could not raise the cash.

While KNH charges Sh5,000 a day for ICU care, private hospitals charge as much as Sh576,000 in 24 hours, a price too prohibitive even for the wealthy.