Covid-19 patients who were recently admitted at the Mumias Health Centre in Kakamega have gone on a hunger strike, protesting what they described as hard labour.
The patients, many of them who are relatives, were admitted at the hospital on mandatory self-quarantine after one of their family members died of a Covid-19 related complication.
On Thursday, November 5, they refused to take their meals citing negligence and mistreatment by health workers.
They blamed the hospital for forcing them to do chores like cleaning up their wards, a task given to them in spite of their condition.
One of the symptoms of Covid-19 is fatigue with many victims running out of breath even after a mundane task.
They are accusing the hospital of not providing sufficient care despite the fact that their lives could be in danger.
“We were just brought and dumped here without any health officers attending to us. Besides being put under antibiotic drugs, we have not received any other form of treatment, and we fear our conditions could worsen,” said one of the patients.
They have since vowed to maintain their hunger strike until their demands are met.
The Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) secretary in Kakamega County, Renson Bulunya, dismissed the patients’ allegations, saying the nurses looking after the Covid-19 patients at the Mumias facility have been professional.
According to Bulunya, who is also a patient undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the facility the lack of proper medical attention to patients is due to the shortage of doctors at the hospital.
The shortage of health workers across the country comes at a time when many health workers have threatened to down their tools following a number of factors among them lack of proper equipment when handling covid19 patients.
As of November 5, Kenya had reported 59,595 Cases with 1,072 fatalities and 39,193 recoveries.
