- Four health workers carrying a Covid-19 body for burial were forced to remove their colleague's PPE to administer chest compression to resuscitate him.
- A video went viral and some social media users incorrectly claimed a man was buried before he actually died.
Health workers burying a Covid-19 patient were forced to administer first aid to a colleague who had fainted during the ceremony.
The four who carried the body were forced to remove their co-worker's PPE to resuscitate him moments after he fell to the ground.
“The Personal Protective Equipment is very heavy and maybe he was overwhelmed by the heat. Their heat is very great when you wear them," Kericho county communications director Leonard Korir told the Star on Monday by phone.
Leonard was responding to a three-minute video posted on a number of media platforms where social media users claimed Ministry of Health officials mistakenly buried a Covid-19 positive person before he was dead.
The Star could not establish the date of the burial when the video was taken.
“The Ministry of Health official collapsed when they were burying a person who might have died Covid-19 positive. A doctor must confirm someone is dead before they declare him dead. And there is no way health officials can bury a person who is alive by mistake,” he said.
One person in the video administers CPR, or cardipulminary resusitation, with repeated chest compression, applying it 100 to 120 times a minute until the health worker revives.
Then they carry him away.
“Social media should stop misleading others. It is good to use social media well, sanitise and wash hands,” Korir said.
Ministry of Health officials told the Star the incident happened in Kericho county last Sunday. However, Kericho officials said it happened in Bomet county, while Bomet officials insisted it was in a village in Kericho.
“If you actually look at the video you will notice that it is in a village in Bomet. You also find that the person who was on the ground and being attending is one of them [the workers],” Korir said.
(Edited by V. Graham)