Medical services at Kenyatta University Teaching Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH) have resumed after the facility hired doctors from the East African region to mitigate the situation.
However, the services are limited to cancer treatment at the oncology department which is the hospital's flagship area, according to the Board Chairperson Prof Olive Mugenda.
Addressing journalists after inspecting operations, Mugenda said they have hired five doctors; three from Ethiopia and one each from Tanzania and Malawi.
"Just like other hospitals we've been affected by the doctors' strike but I'd like to thank some of our doctors who are still offering services like in the radiotherapy department and the imaging centre, the renal centre as well accident and emergency. However the oncology department had stopped services," she said.
She noted that many cancer patients had already started their chemotherapy before the strike began and they were forced to go home without being attended to.
"With the permission and help from the government we were able to get some doctors from the region, clinical oncologists from Monday and they have been attending to patients and that's why chemotherapy has started," Mugenda said.
She divulged that some 45 patients who had already started chemo but stopped due to the strike were recalled on Monday adding that some 40 more cancer patients, new cases, are being attended to.
Prof Mugenda said that the foreign medics will be incorporated into the facility even after the strike comes to an end.
She noted that the hospital receives a very high number of cancer patients adding that the medics' services will be highly required at the facility.
The Board Chairperson at the same time appealed to the striking doctors to listen to the government's plea for them to resume work and give dialogue a chance regarding their demands.
"The doctors should obey the court order that was issued by the High Court and resume their duties. They should go back to work and engage the government while working," she said.
She divulged that the hospital has dismissed some of the striking doctors and given suspension letters to others over the strike which she said was uncalled for.
She disclosed that 132 doctors from KUTRRH are engaging in the industrial action noting that only about 82 doctors are working.
She also called out the doctors for participating in the strike agitating for interns posting and their pay despite the interns not being members of the Kenya Medical, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU).
The Board Chair also observed that the government has tabled a good offer for the interns that they should complete their internship and be hired.
Mugenda spoke even as patients who had jammed the facility expressed relief about the resumption of medical services at KUTRRH, a premier public hospital that mainly handles cancer cases.
Rachel Nyokabi Kariuki, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 said she was depressed after her hopes to get treatment were dashed by the medics' strike.
"I lost my left breast to cancer and I have been going for radiotherapy services at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) until the doctors went on strike. I've been living with excruciating pain and even contemplated committing suicide," she said.
However, the TikToker who hails from Githurai 45 in the Ruiru constituency praised Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha for intervening and ordering that she be taken to KUTRRH for free treatment.
"I was called by the head of Oncology from KUTRRH who told me to report at the facility and that I'd be treated for free on directions from the health CS. I am grateful and my hopes of living longer have been revived," she said.
Nyokabi in a viral TikTok clip pleaded with the government to end the doctors' strike saying that she was in pain and was staring at death since she hadn't accessed medical care for long.
She also pleaded for help from wellwishers to assist her access medical attention.
Another cancer patient, Esther Wanjiku from Kiambu was grateful for the resumption of services at the hospital and called on the parties to end the stalemate for the sake of suffering Kenyans.
She was called by the facility upon resumption of chemotherapy services.
She noted that she was in pain and that lack of the services, caused by the doctors’ strike, had made her weak.
Mercy Gatwiri who is nursing her ailing mother said she was satisfied with the services and called on other hospitals to follow suit.
She also appealed to the government to expedite the settlement of the doctors’ strike to save thousands of ailing Kenyans who cannot afford to get the services in private health facilities.
