Parents with children living with cerebral palsy (CP) in Githurai location of Kiambu County are appealing to the Government and stakeholders in Health sector to construct a therapy centre to cater for their needs.
The parents made the appeal when they availed at least 500 children for assessment at the D.O’s office in Githurai. Monica Nyoike told KNA that such services were rarely accorded to their children and that it wax expensive for them to pay private practitioners for the said therapy.
The only available location where the affected children can be taken for therapy which they required for well being was one at St. Joseph Catholic in Kahawa sukari which is still far for some parents.
The parents with children with such disabilities say they cannot afford to chauffeur their children to the catholic church as it is far away and it would require them to hire a taxi but they cannot afford.
As its Corporate Social Responsibility, the church offers the children therapy 2 days in a week, that is Tuesday and Friday. The number of beneficiaries is also limited as the transport can only take on board 50 children and their caregivers.
Mercy Njeru who lives in Gitothua and has a child with CP says her child needs frequent therapy sessions but she cannot get it as other children should also be given an opportunity.
She says because of being her brother’s keeper, she has to stagger the therapy sessions for her son and that if he received more frequently, it would alleviate his condition.She says it was exorbitant to seek the service from private doctors since it was exorbitant and they could not afford it.
On her part, the County Senior Community development (SCDO0 Mrs. Ann Kamau said the County was working with several stakeholders to take the services to such children from proximity.
She explained that Cure Hospital and Bethany Kids had for years been attending to them and assisting them with devices which are expensive.
The officer further revealed that the County Government had upscaled her services to ensure that all parents and guardians who registered the affected children were mobilized and assisted at word level.
The secretary to Ruiru District disability Network (Rudinet) an organisation working with people living with disabilities Mr. Samson Ndungu concurred with the affected parents and guardians. He said they had to go to Kasarani D.O’s office for the service.
He however explained that some therapy machines had been kept at St. Georges Primary School for some years, as a centre was yet to be constructed. He noted the school had a unit for children with autism conditions. While some were deaf. When it was briefly used , he said it was expensive as the parents paid a fee.
Mr. Ndungu clarified that area MP Mr. Simon King’ara had seen the machine, and that he was in the process of coming up with a solution of where they would be placed to ease the pain being experienced by the parents and the affected children.
By Lydia Shiloya
