Busia county is establishing a Covid-19 treatment centre in Malaba town, the third in the region.
County Universal Health Coverage director David Mukabi said on Thursday the centre will help ease pressure on Alupe and Agricultural Training Centre treatment facilities as coronavirus cases in the border county rise.
“That is what our technical committee is looking at right now. We have considered Malaba dispensary, and we are analysing what it will entail to make the facility operational,” Mukabi said on the phone.
The facility will admit people who will test positive for the virus in Teso North, Teso South and cross border travellers.
Busia by Wednesday had 512 Covid-19 patients, the third highest after Nairobi and Mombasa.
Mukabi said health services previously provided at Malaba Dispensary will be moved to Kocholya Level 4 Hospital. This is meant to pave the way for the refurbishment and subsequent conversion of the dispensary into a Covid-19 centre.
Malaba, where the new facility will be located, is classified as a Covid-19 hotspot in the county. The town hosts the Malaba One-Stop Border Post, which is used by truck drivers as an entry and exit point into and out of the country.
Some 508 out of the 512 virus-positive cases in the county are from truck drivers. The remaining four are residents.
Mukabi said the county health department has been training community health workers who are expected to oversee home-based treatment for residents who will test positive for the virus.
He said the available facilities may not have the capacity to admit residents as cases surge.
The official said Busia Agricultural Training Centre and Alupe which serve as Isolation and Treatment centres have 62 and 140 beds, respectively. Another 100 additional beds have been procured through the Kenya Devolution Support Programme (KDSP), he added.
On June 5, Malaba Port Health Services manager Evelyn Walela expressed fear that inadequate capacity by the county to admit people with the virus may challenge efforts invested in fighting the virus spread.
Walela spoke as 17 truck drivers remained stranded in Malaba after testing positive. They could not be admitted to the Alupe treatment centre, whose 71 beds were full. The development forced the county to secure 20 more beds for Alupe Treatment and Isolation Centre.
Governor Sospeter Ojaamong on June 2, had also expressed worries about the county failing to provide medical care for people testing positive for the coronavirus.
“With an alarming number of [truck drivers] cases returned to Kenya from Uganda, my government may be forced to convert other hospitals into treatment centres to the detriment of residents. This will need funding to equip such hospitals,” the county chief said.
Busia is expected to buy 250 more beds through the Sh106 million that was released by the national government towards combating Covid-19.
Edited by A.N
