By Daniel Mbaluka
in Kangundo
Images of Kangundo L4 hospital
during a total power outage today
The hospital was plunged into darkness when its generator ran out of fuel, after running for hours due to a scheduled power outage.
The power outage had been posted publicly and it seems hospital authorities took no action to have sufficient diesel to ignite the generator through out the scheduled hours of the power-off.
The maintenance was to take place between 9am to 5pm in many parts of Kangundo.
Panic reigned supreme among patients on life support machines- that must be powered to work- as medical workers ran helter-skelter seeking the refuelling of the generator.
A tour of the hospital by our reporter witnessed complaining patients whose immediate concern was skipping of meals.
" We are not sure if the next meal will be served today. Skipping meals is normal, so we send our relatives to buy food", said a woman who pleaded not to be identified.
Our reporter visited the hospital following complaints of insufficient food, the requirement for patients to purchase consumables like medicine.
No basic lab tests, for liver and kidney are undertaken. The patients need to buy the tube needed to carry the blood sample to the lab, we were told.
"The hospital is having challenges with drugs, shortages of
sterile gloves needed for surgical cases, laboratory test kits and other critical items needed for diagnostic purposes" said a senior nurse.
Residents say that it is not unusual to grease the hands of staff so that a service is provided. It is also claimed that patients' relatives usually fuel ambulances to facilitate their transfer to the facility to other hospitals.
Kangundo Medical Superintendent Dr. Daniel Katua said he was in a meeting well into the night and therefore unable to comment.
These shortages appear consistent with those reported in Machakos Level 5 hospital whose Medical Superintendent was removed and demoted when he wrote an unflattering letter to highlight the problems facing the facility.
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