Panic scenes were witnessed in Kakamega, after doctors and nurses at the Kakamega County General Teaching and Referral Hospital on Tuesday afternoon fled from the casualty ward after a patient with coronavirus-like symptoms was brought to the facility.
The health workers said they feared contracting the highly contagious coronavirus disease because they didn’t have protective gear. “When I got to the hospital, there was a lot of panic after a patient was put in isolation for exhibiting coronavirus-like symptoms. The nurses fled from the casualty ward because they do not have face masks and gloves. The patient has been left alone in the room,” Mr. Renson Bulunya, who is the Kenya National Union of Nurses official and Kakamega Branch secretary revealed.
Gates were closed for a while at about 12 pm to control movement in and out of the hospital.
It is alleged that Red Cross ambulance personnel who did not have protective gear entered the casualty room and took the patient with them after the nurses fled.
The patient is said to have been taken to an isolation room within the hospital.
Mr. Bulunya urged authorities to also have the two Red Cross Kenya personnel, who are attached to Kakamega County, also tested alongside the patient for the coronavirus disease. The county has set aside Kshs 110 million in an effort to combat the spread of the virus. Besides it also ordered the closure of all mortuaries, public markets among other measures to achieve the same.