As doctors’ strike continues for the fourth week running, the Kenyatta University Teaching Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH) has hired five oncologists from the East African region and recalled patients who were on chemotherapy.
Hospital Board Chairperson Prof. Olive Mugenda said three doctors were sourced from Ethiopia and one each from Tanzania and Malawi.
Speaking to journalists at the facility today, the Prof said the five will help revive the oncology unit, the facility’s flagship area, whose operations had stopped due to the strike.
She divulged some 45 patients who had already started chemo but stopped and forced to go home due to the strike have been recalled and another 40 new ones are being attended to.
The new medics, she said, have been approved by the government and will be incorporated in the facility even after the strike is called off to help address the huge demand for cancer treatment at the facility.
“The hospital receives a very high number of cancer patients and the doctors will be highly required at the facility,” she said.
At the same time, the Prof said despite the strike, some units in the hospital have been operational, including the radiotherapy department, the renal and imaging center, as well as the accident and emergency units.
She added that the hospital has dismissed some of the striking doctors and given suspension letters to others over the strike which she said was uncalled for.
“From the facility, 132 doctors are engaging in industrial action while about 82 doctors are working. The striking doctors should resume work and give dialogue a chance,” she said.
Prof Mugenda spoke even as cancer patients who had jammed the facility expressed relief about resumption of treatment.
Rachel Nyokabi Kariuki, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021, said she had contemplated committing suicide out of desperation after her hopes to get treatment were dashed by the strike.
“I lost my left breast to cancer and I have been going for radiotherapy services at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) until the doctors went on strike. I’ve been living with excruciating pain and even contemplated committing suicide,” she said.
Nyokabi says she received a call to be taken to KUTRRH for free treatment from the Health Ministry, much to her relief.
“I received a call from the head of Oncology from KUTRRH who told me to report at the facility and that I’d be treated for free on directions from the Ministry. I am grateful and my hopes of living longer have been revived,” she said.
Esther Wanjiku, another cancer patient, from Kiambu was grateful for the resumption of services at the hospital.
She too received a call from the hospital to resume chemotherapy services. She noted that the pain was unbearable and made her weak.
“Patients are suffering out here and a solution needs to be found. The pain I was going through was too much and luckily, the hospital heard our cry,” said Wanjiku.
By Muoki Charles
