Fresh details have emerged over an incident where Doctor Desree Moraa Obwogi, a medical intern at the Gatundu Level 5 hospital in Kiambu County, is reported to have died by suicide on Sunday, September 22.
The circumstances surrounding the incident are not clear, but a suicide note obtained by police indicates that Moraa was disturbed and seemingly had difficulties in her work environment, pointing out to possible frustrations and depressing working conditions.
This is as police in Gatundu South continue to investigate the death of the medical intern whose body was discovered in the balcony of her house that she shared with a friend just meters away from the hospital.
It has since been revealed that Dr Moraa had only worked at the Gatundu level 5 hospital as a medical intern for 4 weeks after transferring from Nakuru Level 5.
Unfortunately, when she left the hospital after a grueling 36-hour shift on Sunday, she was never to be seen again alive having cut short her life on the evening according to the police.
Stella Cherono, Sub County Police Commander said that Moraa’s lifeless body was found dangling from the balcony of the house which she shared with her friend who had been hosting her, with a rope tied around her neck on Sunday night.
“Around 10:30, A suicide incident was a reported to Gatundu police station and officers from this station went to the scene which is around 600 M from the station in an apartment within Gatundu town and we established that there was a lady aged about 27 years who had committed suicide,” said the commander.
According to the apartment’s caretaker who found Moraa’s lifeless body dangling from the fourth floor before alerting the police, Moraa was more reserved than her roommate and mostly kept to herself.
KMPDU Issue statement on Dr Desree Moraa Suicide
Following the doctor’s demise, the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacist and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has demanded for a better working environment for medical interns.
Also Read: Doctor Dies by Suicide After Being Forced to Work a 36-Hour Shift
In a statement issued on Tuesday, KMPDU Secretary General Dr Davji Atella demanded for a Health Care system that prioritizes workers mental well-being and ensures fair compensation to prevent exploitation.
“A workplace should not make workers feel so isolated and desperate that they believe there is no way out the system as designed failed Moraa and many others who we have mourned before. It is a dangerous system that will continue to wreak havoc on the lives of healthcare workers, ” the statement read in part.
County to issue statement
A meeting was on Tuesday convened at the facility where Moraa worked, with those in attendance including the management of the hospital, officials from the County government, medical interns and the board of the hospital.
An autopsy conducted at the Gatundu level 5 hospital mortuary revealed the cause of death is asphyxia secondary neck compression due to strangulation.
The county said it will issue a comprehensive statement after the investigations are complete.
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KMPDU officials at Kiambu County decried the frustrations long working hours and unfriendly working conditions for the medical interns.
“This is not the first time we have lost a life in Kiambu, we have lost some other seven Lives before, and we are sad about it. Therefore, we are urging the government to look at the issue.
Here we have interns who have been out for a long period without having been given appointment letter but even when they got the appointment letters, they still do not have their salaries, they do not even know when to expect,” said an official.
“What we have is the merge of several factors all underlying the issue of systemic failure of the healthcare system, so you have an issue of understaffing coming together with an issue of uh like mistreatment of intern doctors where they stay for months without being posted.”
The health system has experienced significant disruptions after doctors went on strike demanding for better working conditions.
The demands included providing a comprehensive medical cover for medics clearing unpaid salaries and improving interns pay
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