The absence of a health facility in Manda Island, Lamu West, has made it difficult for pregnant women to attend prenatal clinic.
Babies born in the Manda village grow without the crucial ante-natal clinic.
The nearest dispensary is at the Manda airport, close to 12km away, but is plagued with a constant shortage of crucial drugs and services.
Residents have to sometimes cross the Indian Ocean to access services at the King Fahad Hospital, which is close to 60km away.
Manda village is home to more than 2,000 people, most of whom are stone miners and farmers. They settled on the area from other parts of Kenya in the 1980s.
Residents have urged Lamu county to build them a well-equipped dispensary to save them from the health challenges they currently face.
Village elder Samuel Otieno asked the county to also deploy community health workers to attend to pregnant women, even as they continue seeking a solution.
“We need a dispensary here because the one at the airport is too far," Otieno said.
"The stony and bushy terrain of this area cannot allow us to trek that far, especially for pregnant women and those who cannot afford the Sh200 needed for a motorbike ride.”
Elizabeth Muyumbe is nine months pregnant and due in a few days but has never attended a single clinic. She could not afford the monthly fare to attend clinics in Lamu Island.
A boat ride from Manda to Lamu island costs not less than Sh1,000 which is out of reach for many.
“And even when you struggle and raise the amount, it is not a guarantee that you will be attended to," Muyumbe said.
"I went there in my first trimester and was told I was late and asked to come back the following day. I never went back. I pray my baby is okay."
Manda village elder Ben Ojuok said it was a struggle for the entire Manda Island community to depend on just one poorly equipped health facility.
“Women cannot access clinics and neither can newborns and babies. We have lost women in the process of giving birth because there are no maternal services here,” Ojuok said.
Contacted, Lamu Health executive Anne Gathoni said all dispensaries in the county have met all required standards.
She said every dispensary in Lamu has delivery sections for pregnant mothers.
On the issue of shortage of drugs and personnel, Gathoni said the Manda facility was recently completed and that the county was still working on making it better.
“We have delivery rooms in all our dispensaries where basic maternal services are offered. We only refer complicated cases to the King Fahad Hospital,” Gathoni said.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
