A doctor in charge of a Coronavirus (Covid-19) isolation centre locked himself in one of the recovery rooms in the maternity ward at the Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital, after claiming to have contracted the disease while engaging with isolated patients.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, a nurse at the hospital revealed that the incident, which happened at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 21, forced medics to scamper for safety as pregnant women went into panic mode.
A report by K24 on Tuesday, April 21, added that the doctor exhibited Covid-19-likr symptoms, including sweating and coughing while claiming he was so sure he had been infected.
The medic, who was selected by the county Governor Wycliffe Oparanya to take charge of the isolation unit later locked himself up in a recovery room at the maternity wing approximately 200 metres from the isolation centre.
His colleagues, however, confronted him and forced him to the isolation unit, while threatening to expose him to the media.
"His tests came back and he had malaria. He was negative for Covid," the nurse who spoke with Kenyans.co.ke informed.
"However, we do not have personal protective equipment (PPEs) yet. We struggle with few masks and we haven't seen the government's free sanitisers. We make our own or sometimes use spirit," the nurse confided.
The incident sparked fear among pregnant women and those who had even delivered through C-section, as they urged the hospital to be vigilant with Coronavirus cases.
“Why would they assign an ailing doctor who attends to Covid-19 patients to operate on us?” one woman wondered.
“We are urging the administration of Kakamega Hospital to assign specific doctors to expectant women. If they are juggling between us and the Covid-19 patients, then they would be risking our lives,” another patient stated.
Titus Mumia, the hospital administrator declined to comment on the issue when contacted by Kenyans.co.ke and stated that it had been addressed by Kakamega County Health CEC, Rachel Okumu.
"He remains under close medical observation," Okumu is quoted in a statement while sttaing that there was no cause for alarm.
