The countrywide doctors and nurses’ strike that began yesterday saw all medical services in Kitui and Mwingi level-four hospitals grind to a halt.
There were scenes of dismay and anguish at the two main hospitals as patients were turned away. Not even dispensaries and health centres in the remote parts of the county were staffed.
In-patients at the two main hospitals were the hardest hit, as they got neither treatment nor drugs. The lucky ones were cared for by relatives, some of whom were disillusioned and not sure where to take their sick kin.
A spot check at the Kitui County Referral Hospital revealed that only pharmacists and clinical officers reported to duty, but they were generally idle.
About 50 per cent of its staff were not around. Many inpatients were seen leaving the hospital on foot or using boda bodas.
Two new mothers — Jacinta Mutheu and Janet Mwendwa — left the hospital carrying their barely-one-day-old babies. They gave birth on Sunday. The mothers said their children had not been inoculated.
In the wards, some relatives of patients appeared resigned. They could not afford could not afford to take their relatives to private hospitals as advised by striking medics.
“I’m at a loss on what to do with my sick husband because I can’t afford the high charges at the private hospitals,” said Jeminah Koli, who was spoon-feeding her sick husband Stephen Ndambuki.
“My husband suffers from TB and stroke. If I take him out of this hospital, it will be disastrous,” she said.
Joseph Ndaa who was nursing his father, a stroke patient, said, “The situation here is bad because we have been asked to pay current bills and evacuate our relatives. My father is seriously sick and was to go for a head CT scan in Nairobi before the strike started,” he said.
