Baringo chief officer of health Dr. Gideon Toromo has assured residents of Tirioko ward in Tiaty that the county government through the department of public health was ready and committed to ensure the current malaria outbreak would be contained within the shortest time possible.
While allaying fears that there were insufficient drugs, Dr. Toromo said more medical personnel have been dispatched to the ground and within the next two weeks, they should control the outbreak.
The chief officer who confirmed that so far seven people have died of the disease as of Sunday also urged residents of the far flung areas to use preventative methods for malaria control like use of hospital insect treated nets (ITNs) which were in abundance and issued free.
“People should not worry that the outbreak is out of control. I can confidently state that the current upsurge is not worse than the one which occurred in 2017. I only urge people to seek medical attention immediately and they should not wait until they are too weak to walk,” he implored.
He said the county government has sent staff to the affected areas to conduct malaria case management as they continue with other routine works of treating the sick, distributing medical supplies, providing additional insect treated nets, deworming and stepping up public health education on the prevention of malaria.
He said that so far, the department has dispatched more than 50,000 doses of anti-malaria and that out of 37 patients whose blood samples were taken for testing 22 of them were found to be positive, a situation representing 53 percent.
He stated since the upsurge was reported, over 400 cases have been treated for malaria.
Briefing the press in his Kabarnet office on the malaria outbreak situation, Dr. Toromo advised residents of the worst hit areas of Gulel Atirir, Chesawach, Kongor, Chesotim, Lokis, and Akoret to seek prompt treatment whenever they detected any signs of the attack to avoid late reporting and loss of lives.
Flanked by senior medical officers, Dr. Toromo assured the residents that issues which delayed the completion of Akoret health facility had been sorted out and the contractor should be back on site immediately with the works expected to be completed in the next six months.
He said immediately the facility was completed, staff would be deployed as soon as possible.
However, Dr. Toromo regretted that the epicentre of the outbreak is at a remote area which is extremely inaccessible as there were no roads and networks for all phones does not exist at all making communication very hard.
He also noted that the patients were so many thus overwhelming to the number of medical personnel comprising of doctors, clinical officers, nurses and laboratory technicians among other cadre of staff.
Dr. Toromo appealed to well-wishers, partners, NGOs to intervene by availing vehicles and personnel so that the high number of sick people could be reached within the shortest time.
By Joshua Kibet
Sunday, December 22, 2024
Information For Development
