West Pokot County is grappling with a lack of capacity to test for Covid-19 and a shortage of Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs), an issue which is impeding the fight against the virus. The realization comes days after the County recorded its first Coronavirus case. So far, only 163 tests have been done in the County.
West Pokot Governor John Lonyangapuo has raised concern citing that all samples are networked to external labs including the facilities at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) and Kitale. “All the tests in the last one month have been sent to the MTRH lab in Eldoret. The turn-around time for the MTRH lab has been reasonable as most results have been returned within 24 hours of samples being delivered to the lab,” he said.
The County boss said hospitals in the area do not have the capacity to rapidly test Coronavirus cases due to the severe shortage of Covid-19 testing kits.
At a prèss conference in Kapenguria to address the the Covid-19 situation in the County, Lonyangapuo said that the scarcity of PPEs is hampering the ability of health care workers in hospitals to draw samples and send to labs. “The results for the last batches of samples have taken more than 24 hours which can be done in the County within five hours. The government should obtain a range of supplies and offer equipment to hospitals to help fight Covid-19,” he said.
Concerning the first Covid-19 case confirmed last week, Lonyangapuo said that the 39-year-old lady had travelled into the County from Nairobi on the 26th July 2020 and was picked up by the County surveillance team after receiving notification from the community in Ortum.
“From this case, a total of 41 contacts were identified and samples taken for testing. 36 of these tests are out and all are negative for Covid-19. 5 results are still pending,” he said. The Governor said that all contacts have been advised to self-quarantine at their homes. “We urge the people who are on quarantine to adhere to the conditions until they are cleared by the health teams to safeguard the community from a possible spread of the Coronavirus,” he said.
He stated that The Department of Health has been aggressively involved in preparedness activities to manage the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. “These activities included Community engagement on COVID-19 pandemic through utilization of Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) and dissemination of vital information on radio stations in the local dialect, acquisition and stocking of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and general equipment and supplies, training of frontline healthcare workers on COVID-19 case management and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), surveillance and preparations for an Isolation center as per the Presidential directive.”
Lonyangapuo reiterated that the County Government, working closely with partners, engaged in an ambitious process to build capacity for frontline healthcare workers with the initial target being at least 50% of the workforce. “We have trained 402 health workers on case management and Infection Prevention and Control mainly covering the staff of the designated isolation centers at Kapenguria County Referral Hospital (KRCH), Ortum Mission Hospital and Sigor, Kacheliba and Chepararia Sub County Hospitals,” he said.
He added that there is a robust surveillance system that includes multiple screening sites at entry points into the County as well as targeted testing of community members for early identification of Covid-19 positive cases.
He noted that following confirmation of the first positive case in the County, disinfection was done in Ortum, Sigor, Chepararia, Makutano,Murkwijit, Chepkorniswo, Morpus, Sebit, Wakor, Marich pass, Chepkoghin, Murian and Keringet towns and centers in order to curb any possible contamination. “This exercise will cover the whole county in the coming days,” he added.