The Mombasa Rotary Club has distributed food parcels to frontline healthcare workers at the Mombasa Hospital as an appreciation during this novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Mombasa Rotary Club president, Hanif Parkar said the healthcare workers as the frontline soldiers against COVID-19 deserve tokens of recognition, appreciation and support.
Parkar spoke at the Mombasa Hospital on Thursday during a ceremony to issue the healthcare workers with certificates of appreciation and food hampers.
The donations included wheat and maize flour, beans, rice, cooking oil, salt, sugar, tea leaves and bar soaps and washing powder to help the healthcare workers cope during this pandemic.
He said the frontline health workers are committed to the health and safety of the people during this emergency health crisis and deserve support for their selfless service to humanity.
Parkar said the frontline healthcare workers play a critical role in preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
He said they have organised the food rations through the support of the not-for-profit organizations Mamujee Brothers and the Sir Yusuf Ali charitable trust.
The Rotarian said as the impact of COVID-19 continues to evolve the frontline healthcare workers play an important role in the fight against the pandemic in the country.
“They, therefore, require the support of all Kenyans now more than ever before,” he said.
He went on, ‘through this initiative of distributing food to the frontline health workers we want to show them our gratitude’.
The Mombasa Hospital Director of Administration, Abass Nasser thanked the donors for the good gesture, saying it will go a long way in motivating the frontline healthcare workers during difficult economic times brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nasser said it is clear that frontline healthcare workers need the support of the stakeholders just as patients need care in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
He said the hospital will compliment both the national and county governments’ efforts to curb the further spread of the virus in Mombasa.
Mombasa had by Wednesday recorded 361 COVID-19 cases and has the highest rate of deaths at 27, followed by Nairobi (20) while Siaya, Bomet and Kiambu have one fatality each.
The Mombasa Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Joseph Audi Odongo said they have set up a COVID-19 screening centre at the hospital’s entrance to screen all people visiting the facility.
He said the screening tent acts as the hospital’s triage area and provides visitors with a COVID-19 risk assessment before directing them to the next steps.
Dr. Odongo, a general medical practitioner who is coordinating the hospital’s COVID-19 response team said it is a trying time for healthcare providers but the hospital management has taken every precaution to control the spread of coronavirus.
The medic said the hospital is ready to deal with coronavirus as most of the staff have attended training on the management and treatment of COVID-19 patients at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital in Mombasa.
He said the facility just like other hospitals around the world had to quickly reshape to handle COVID-19 patients.
He said in the past the hospital has quarantined 46 people with COVID-19 symptoms where 22 of them have turned positive.
“We have isolated 46 people where 22 of them have turned positive and with that number eleven have so far recovered and have been discharged but unfortunately we lost three patients,” he said.
By Mohamed Hassan
