The Government has disbursed a conditional grant of Kshs. 5 billion to all our 47 counties aimed at bolstering the level of readiness in the health facilities.
Each county must now prioritize its needs in accordance with the funds provided and is up to the County Governments to utilize these funds to safeguard the lives of the people,
Giving update on Covid 19 situation in the country, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the counties should ensure that the local health facilities were well equipped, and healthcare workers are adequately catered for.
“ If our Counties are fully prepared and have the necessary infrastructure in place, then we shall have nothing to worry about”, he said adding that this does not mean the money will replace what the Ministry has been supporting with such as supplying of PPEs and others
The CS has further noted that with the fight against the Covid 19 raging, over 80 per cent of patients in hospitals are asymptomatic, and therefore, may be managed from home.
If it is implemented, Kagwe said this would free our health facilities from congestion. “Currently our mbagathi and also Kenytta University are almost overstretched with patients.
The Ministry of Health he explained is in the process of actualizing home and community based care protocols, for roll out and to be implemented countrywide.
.
PICTURES BY NICHOLAS NTHENGE
“what this means is that a lot of people who are in isolation facilities may be released to be taken care of at their homes provided it is in accordance with new WHO protocols that we are still looking at and trying to customize and domesticate and also look at the facilities that families may have”, the CS said .
The CS has also noted that truck drivers have in the last few weeks been testing positive because of not adhering to the set out measures thus causing a lot of congestion at border points.
Kagwe said that most track drivers who are causing the delay at the border points are the ones who are not being tested 48 hours prior to departure and even going ahead to use a driver who has been tested to load their wares at the port and once it has been done they travel all the way to Busia passing through all the road blocks without the valid document just to reach at the border point and have to wait to be tested since they cannot pass through the other side
“This is purely indiscipline, which is unacceptable, and will not be tolerated. I am urging our law enforcers to take appropriate action against any such drivers, flouting these measures”, Kagwe said .
Pertaining the COVID-19 situation today, CS Kagwe said that 124 people have tested positive from 2,640 samples that were tested in the last 24 hours bringing the total number of positive cases to 2,340, while the total number of samples tested so far is 87, 698.
The positive cases include, 119 Kenyans, 2 Somalis, 2 Tanzanians and one Eritrean National.
He added that out of the 124 cases, Mombasa, has 40, Nairobi, 38, Busia, 26, Kajiado, 6, Kiambu, 3, Garissa, 2 and Taita Taveta, 2 cases, Muranga and Elgeyo Marakwet have 1 case each.
“ Elgeyo Marakwe becomes the latest county to report a COVID-19 case, bringing the total number of counties that have been affected to 36’, the CS said
The distribution of the cases in the sub-counties is the 40 cases in Mombasa are from Mvita, 14, Kisauni 11 cases, Changamwe, 6, Jomvu and Nyali one 1 case each.
In Nairobi, the 38 cases are from Kibra, 25, Kamukunji 4, Dagoretti North, 5, Westlands , Langata and Embakasi East, 1 case each.
The CS noted all the cases in Busia are from truck driver and they are distributed in Malaba border Point 18 , Busia border 4 cases, and Alupe mandatory quarantine center 4.
In Migori, the 5 cases are form Kuria West 4 and Suna East 1 case. In Kiambu, the three cases are from Ruiru, Lari and Kikuyu with 1 case each.
In Garissa the 2 cases are from Daadab, in Taita Taveta the 2 cases are from Taveta, while in Muranga, the one 1 case is from Kiharu, Muranga town. In Elgeyo Marakwet, 1 case is of a truck driver from Keiyo North.
In terms of gender, the CS said that 100 are males and 24 are females with the youngest is one-year-old, while the oldest is 80.
The government today has also discharged 39 patients from various health facilities, bringing the total number of recoveries to 592. Sadly it has also lost another 4 patients to the disease, bringing the total fatality number to 78.
Kagwe said the fight against the disease has proven, that it is a marathon rather than a sprint and firmly rooted within our communities with the level of spread being in our villages, our estates, and in our homes making it clear from targeted testing, that the country cannot afford to relent in the fight if it must safeguard the lives of Kenyans.
Dr. Patrick Amoth, Acting Director General of Health said , they are able to account for everyone based on the cumulative numbers and explained that the variation done is one has to look at the index first , then out of that you minus the negative then you remain with the positive cases , the positive cases you minus the deaths and recoveries minus the repatriated and also those who give the wrong contacts so the government can be able to account for all .
He further said that the government is exploring the possibility of community isolation and through the home care based and community based facilities that the government will be launching soon will mean decongesting and preventing health care facilities from being overwhelmed.
“Remember majority of our cases are asymptomatic , so it makes no business sense to be able to manage this people in a hospital facility “, Dr. Amoth said adding that this has worked before during the early days of HIV pandemic where low middle income countries were able to work out on interventions of home based care with very good success.
Dr. Amoth noted that it has been known that patients recover best at home because they are familiar with home environment rather than a hospital facility.
By Wangari Ndirangu
