The Ministry of Health has moved in to reduce congestion and testing period for Covid-19 for truckers using the newly opened Inland Container Depot in Mahiu Naivasha.
Drivers will now get their results within 12 hours from three days following concerns from the Nakuru government that the depot could turn out to be the epicentrer of the disease as has happened in Busia.
This emerged when Stanbic Bank and Rotary Group of Naivasha donated water tanks, soaps and sanitiser to the department of public health for use at the ICD and other centres.
According to Naivasha subcounty public health officer George Ndichu, the new testing laboratory in Mai Mahiu town is fully equipped and testing around 45 drivers every day.
Thanking the organisations for the donations, he noted that the presence of the truck drivers has raised tension among residents.
“We have now reduced the turnaround time for the tests from three days to 12 hours to address the issue of congestion and overstay in the town,” he said.
He added that they had cleared the backlog of drivers at the ICD and that they are now issuing free of charge attestation forms to the tested drivers.
The superintendent in charge of Naivasha subcounty hospital Dr Angeline Ithondeka said due to hand washing, non-communicable diseases had dropped by over 20 per cent.
“Apart from containing the spread of Covid-19, we have seen a drop in the number of diarrhoea and intestinal cases from 30,000 last year to around 20,000 this year,” she said.
President of Rotary in Naivasha Billy Mungai termed Mai Mahiu as a hotspot for the disease after the opening of the container depot.
He said with drivers coming from all parts of the region, there was need to improve sanitation, hand washing and mass testing.
“We thank donors for their support as some of these tanks will go to Mai Mahiu and Rotary is keen to address the issue of water and sanitation and disease eradication,” he said.
Stanbic Bank Naivasha branch chairman Ken Mucheni said vulnerable families were the hardest hit by the pandemic.
He said the bank was keen to work with the department of Health to ensure hand washing and improved sanitation.
“This pandemic has hit all sectors and families and the water tanks and hand washing soaps will go a long way in containing the spread of this disease,” he said.
Edited by EKibii
