West Pokot County government has earmarked two isolation facilities at Kapenguria County referral hospital in the fight against Coronavirus in Kenya.
A 20-bed capacity ward 7 amenity wing has been converted into an isolation room in case of any Covid-19 cases in the County and the other room under construction will be completed in few days to come.
Area Governor John Lonyangapuo who inspected the isolation facilities at the main referral facility in the County was forced to summon the contractor of the new building to come and finish the structure, adding that he had stopped due to the issue of pending bills.
He noted that they remain on high alert following confirmation of Covid-19 cases in Kenya, “The amenity ward with ten rooms for is for the low risk patients and the new room will handle high risk cases even as we work on establishing other centers at sub-counties and replicate the same in remote areas,” said Lonyangapuo.
He added that other temporary buildings will be set up in far flung areas along the Kenya–Uganda border which is high risk because it is porous.
He said that the County government is working on availing hand washing facilities at critical points across the County. “Prevention is better than cure. Shun meetings and harambees to avoid contact with other people. The signs of Corona Virus are fever, coughing, shortness of breath and body aches. If you exhibit these symptoms or you spot someone with such symptoms kindly contact emergency response team on; 0729 471 414, 0732 353 535, 0748 592 455,” said Lonyangapuo.
Lonyangapuo said that local radio stations are doing sensitization on how to avert the disease, “The disease will pas sand won’t settle, it will go just like the locusts.”
Kapenguria County referral hospital Deputy medical superintendent Dr. Jacob Ruto said that plans are underway to put sanitizers at all entries and screen visitors. He, however, said West Pokot is faced with the challenge of a lack of qualified professional medical practitioners to deal with the scourge.