Kakamega free medical camp sees many get treatment
Residents from Kakamega county and its neighborhood are beneficiaries of a six day free medical camp set at the Kakamega county hospital.
The medical camp at the Kakamega County Referral hospital commenced on Sunday 1st May and is expected to end on Friday 6th May. It involves free scanning and screening of patients.
A multi specialist team in medicine led by Prof. Ongiti Meshack, comprising of a General Manager, an obstetrician, three plastic surgeons headed by Prof. Khainga from the University of Nairobi, five Anesthetist, a pediatrician, three theater nurses and three ICU nurses is ensuring that all available patients are taken care of.
Addressing the press, Dr. Ongiti revealed that by day three, they had screened over 500 patients and performed 70 surgical operations.He said that the number is overwhelming given that they intended to attend to 150 people.
Dr. Ongiti was afraid that by Wednesday 400 people had booked for surgery explaining that the number is likely to rise adding that they may not be able to attend to all of them.
He revealed that the team was willing to do the exercise frequently but they are challenged financially. He called upon the government and other organizations to make it a reality by attending directly to the sick at the hospital rather than spent a lot in seminars held in hotels.
He further revealed that the exercise will offer services worth over 40 millions to those who will benefit.
He also urged the national government and the county governments to work hand in hand on improving the health sector explaining that it is an expensive sector that needs to be allocated a lot of resources.
“This is a free surgical camp because many people cannot afford the cost of treatment”, said Dr. David Oluoch, the County Director of Medical Services.
The director further mentioned that the expected number of patients was to be a hundred and fifty cases but as for now the number was exceeding four hundred with two hundred cases on admission.
The Kakamega County Government has played the part of ensuring that the upkeep of the volunteer doctors is taken care of. The county has also ensured the provision of funds to support and sponsor the whole medical camp process.
Moureen Mikairi a beneficiary of the free medical camp could not hide her happiness.
She says that she has been suffering from goiter for the last six years and had tried in vain to get treatment.
She revealed that she had given up on frequent check ups until she heard on radio that the camp will be in Kakamega giving free services. She said that money was her biggest challenge.
For Linet Wetindi from Lunza village in Shinyalu sub county, she had a growth on her head. She said that she has gone through a tough time for the last 10 years but she now feels revealed after the growth was removed.
Paul Otando from Kisumu county revealed that his son Emmanuel Gift was a beneficiary of the services last year and when he heard they were coming back he chose to bring him back for another surgery.
“Gift was treated for cleft lip by this team last year and I have brought him back for cleft palette.” Said Otando who was eagerly waiting to take his two year old son to the theater.
Though the team may not be able to attend to the entire group of patients, they have plans to repeat the exercise.
New and reliable equipment have also been made available by the government. Dr. David Oluoch said that the medical camp was initiated last year, this year and that hopefully it would be an annual event.
The medical chief also mentioned that the county government has future plans for the referral hospital which include putting up a medical school through which more medical staff will be trained.
