• James Gakara said to have fatally injected two children with drugs, then injected himself. He died three days later on September 22.
• At his requiem mass, medics called for attention to medical workers mental health. Gakara's wife called their marriage "great and beautiful".
Image: BEN NDONGA
Healthcare workers have emphasised the need for mental wellness.
Their associations made the calls on Monday at the requiem mass for Dr James Mureithi Gakara and his children Dylan, aged five, and Hailey Karuana, aged three.
The Nakuru doctor apparently killed his two children and himself with drugs. The cause of the murders and suicide is under investigation.
Kenya Medics Association said healthcare workers bear a heavy burden of patients' problems, yet they themselves often need counselling.
Nakuru branch chairperson Dr Joy Mugambi said the wellness of healthcare workers is neglected.
“Medics go through a lot carrying the emotional burdens of their patients," she said.
"They are expected to care for others at all times and watch the patients whom they care about die, yet they are indicted when they succumb to stress."
Gakara, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, is believed to have injected his children with a fatal dose of drugs, and then injected himself to take his own life on September 18 at his home in Milimani Apartments.
He was found unconscious and died four days later at Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital. His children died in their beds.
Gakara was eulogised as one who had a smile for everyone. His widow, Winnie Odhiambo, called him warm and loving and called their eight years of marriage "beautiful".
Mugambi urged the community to walk with the medics and understand their tribulations because they, too, are humans.
Gakara owned Optimum Current Healthcare Clinic.
Dr Felix Akisa said obstetricians suffer more stress because of the kind of work they do. He is chairman of the Central Rift Obstetricians' Association.
“Some of my colleagues have been abusing drugs while others are battling alcoholism," he said.
"We are glad there is a doctors’ mental health programme in place."
Akisa was Gakara’s classmate at the University of Nairobi Medical School.
He eulogised Gakara as a doctor who treated patients with diligence and compassion.
Many patients who have been treated by Gakara took to social media to express their disbelief when news of the apparent murder-suicide broke.
Men said Gakara swiftly responded to family needs whenever their wives had issues with pregnancy or delivery.
Akisa described Gakara as the man behind the scenes, the glue that held medics together in Nakuru and the larger Central Rift region.
Many people do not know Gakara was unanimously elected to chair the Central Rift Obstetricians Association but he never said much about it, Akisa said.
"I was only his mouthpiece, he was the one calling the shots," he said.
Widow Odhiambo's eulogy was read by her best friends. She said she was blessed to have been married to Gakara for eight years.
“I would be grateful to have known Gakara even for a moment," she said.
"I would rather endure this inexplicable pain of outliving him than never to have seen his face. He was soft-spoken, warm and loving."
She said they met when she was a clinical intern in February 2014. It was her fourth day of maternity rotation under Gakara's guidance.
The training was rigorous and exhausting.
Odhiambo said their married life was "great and beautiful".
“My husband was the best partner, a good listener and compassionate. He never wanted to see me struggle or have any problems," the widow said.
She called her children the best gifts anyone could want and said they brightened her days and those of their father.
(Edited by V. Graham)