• The eight North Rift governors are pushing for mass testing of healhcare workers, especially in counties where cases on the rise, Uasin Gishu and Turkana.
• Fear among health workers has disrupted operations at some hospitals, especially at the Uasin Gishu County Hospital where three nurses and an officer tested positive. Some workers stay away.
More than 8,000 health workers in the North Rift are demanding mass testing for coronavirus after four of them tested positive in Eldoret.
Operations at some health facilities have been disrupted, especially at Uasin Gishu County Hospital where three nurses and an officer tested positive.
Some frightened health workers are keeping off work at Uasin Gishu County Hospital and at facilities in Nandi, Trans Nzoia and Turkana.
The governors of the eight North Rift counties are pushing for mass testing of the health workers, especially where cases are on the rise.
They want the government to provide more reagents and testing supplies as well as beds and other equipment.
The eight counties have confirmed more than 405 positive cases. Uasin Gishu has recorded 290 cases, Turkana 67, Nandi and Trans Nzoia 17 cases each, Baringo 10 cases while Elgeyo Marakwet has two cases.
Samburu and West Pokot each have reported one case.
Isaac Tallam, chairman of the Kenya Clinical Officers Association in Uasin Gishu, said on Tuesday they want mass testing for workers in most affected counties. They have interacted with Covid-19 positive colleagues and patients.
“Since our colleagues tested positive, nothing had been done including contact tracing yet many of us interacted with those who turned positive,” Tallam said.
He said the health workers may be spreading the disease among themselves and patients.
Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago, who is chairman of the North Rift Economic Bloc, said governors have asked the government to provide more reagents for testing centres.
The Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and the Kitale County Referral Hospital are among the main testing centres.
“We are pushing for the testing of the frontline health workers and providing more PPE so health workers are well protected,” Mandago said.
More than 100 ICU beds have been set up in the North Rift region.
Not all counties have been able to set up the required 300 beds each - Samburu, West Pokot and Baringo each have fewer than 200.
The eight counties require a minimum 2,400 beds, but only 1,800 beds have been set up.
Governors said they need government help to acquire beds and equipment.
“Counties have done commendable work and we have prepared well though we need to train more staff and community health workers,” Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Alex Tolgos said.
Uasin Gishu is one of the counties that have complied with the 300-beds requirement agreed on at a meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta a month ago.
Mandago chaired a governors’ meeting last week when they said they lack resources to procure equipment for facilities handling Covid-19.
“We urge the government to intervene and help counties quickly acquire the required beds and other equipment as we prepare for a possible upsurge. We are working to stop more infections,” Mandago said.
In Uasin Gishu, MTRH has more than 35 ICU beds while the county is trying to add another 30 beds at several facilities.
Tolgos said Elgeyo Marakwet had prepared 10 ICU beds and several isolation centres.
A seven-bed Sh40 million ICU has been completed at Kapsabet County Referral Hospital in Nandi. The county has set up another three ICU units at Nandi Hills County Hospital.
Nandi Governor Stephen Sang said the unit at Kapsabet will serve residents and many Kenyans living between Eldoret and Kisumu.
The county will have more ICU facilities once Sh430 million Mother and Child Unit (MCU) is completed at the county referral hospital.
(Edited by V. Graham)