A patient admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Isiolo County Referral hospital has been forced to retreat back home following a strike by medical practitioners in the county.
This is after the emergence of a health crisis in Isiolo County where medical practitioners downed tools with patients now forced to leave hospitals in search of help.
Patients have since been affected, among them Rebecca Akum, a pulmonary embolism patient who had been admitted in ICU at the Isiolo County Referral hospital.
Such patients require close attention but have been forced to be under caregivers at home after the medics in the county went on strike, paralyzing medical services and leaving patients to their own devices.
Akum has now been withdrawn from the hospital and transferred back home since there are no doctors to attend to her.
“I was admitted in the ICU and stayed for about a month and half. I underwent tests and the doctors found that I had heart problems, I wasn’t able to breath and had to use supplement oxygen. When the doctors went on strike I was forced to go back home,” said Akum in an interview.
However, her home lacks electricity required to operate her device which forced her to seek refuge at the home of Saraphina Asili.
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On her part, Asili while speaking to journalists said that frequent power outage in the area is worrying as it poses a health risk for Akum.
ICU patient in Isiolo forced to go back home
The family further says it is not able to operate the equipment especially when the medics fail to visit the home to help them.
“A few days ago, when they came, I had bought electricity tokens worth Ksh100. When the tokens were depleted, I told them to give me Ksh150 so that we can purchase other tokens. The Ksh150 tokens are supposed to be depleted by today,” said Sarafina.
Akum was also recently diagnosed with tuberculosis that had gone for long without treatment weakening her lungs which saw her put under oxygen support.
Besides missing doctors, Akumu faces a challenge in accessing necessary treatment with her mother saying that she needs to undergo a medical operation worth Ksh100, 000 which the family cannot afford.
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The patient is not alone in this suffering as the medics’ strike in Isiolo County enters the fifth day.
County appeals to doctors
The county is seeking a solution to the medical situation with the county officials appealing to doctors to soften their handstands.
“I’m appealing to them they should come back let us have a meeting with your leaders and see to it that how your welfare will be improved. Otherwise, when we lost a patient the life of this patient, we cannot you cannot compare it with money,” Dadhe Boru, Isiolo County Secretary said.
Meanwhile, the residents are now calling on the County government to quickly resolve the standoff even as the recent migration from the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to the Social Health Authority (SHA) complicates the situation for healthcare services seekers.
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