While the scars hailing from Nation’s sensational headline, Doctors Con Game, are still hurting, a good friend replying to my woes asked why patients seem to speak too much ill of health care givers, if as we claim, we are so dedicated to what we do. My response felt like a blog, and so I thought of making an entry. I said:

I will tell you why patients seem to hate HCWs. Let’s take an example: when a patient gets to a Maternity Ward for delivery, she knows that her Linda Mama will sort all her financial needs, and that she will not pay a penny.
What then happens, when the Doctor realizes she has Hypertension for example? That means, there is a need to do further investigations to rule out the possibility of some life threatening condition like Preeclampsia. There is need to look at her urine, if there is protein in it. In a facility X, they are able to do that, thank God, it is called urinalysis. Don’t be fooled it is always there. If then they see that there are proteins in it is bad sign. Further, a look at her liver, and kidneys, for the least is paramount. Those will decide how quickly we must deliver the baby. The way of looking at the liver and kidneys is to draw some blood, and run tests. Now, in the facility, the vacutainer (tu bottles) needed to put drawn blood are often lacking. Thanks to a sick health care system. There are weeks when there are no gloves as well. Also, we need to look at the blood, especially for a component called platelets. We need another kachupa. All lacking.

Now, what does the Doctor do. They tell the relatives to go buy a pair of gloves, branulas (those needles put on the veins to put drugs and fluids), 7 bottles of Normal Saline and the vacutainer tubes to get blood tested. Often the syringes and needles are available. Not in all facilities however.Well, they often will not have all that money. Fuliza mbio mbio. All the tests are to be done outside the facility, and labs are different. Some are completely unreliable. The doctor will most likely tell them to get to one of the 4 labs they expect to get reliable results. (There is another component of the preference, blog for another day). Why are there no working labs? To blame it on the doctor is not only immoral, but foolish. But, our population has been made to believe that the HCWs are the problem. The politicians can push the narrative way easily, thanks to sensational headlines, and campaign vendetta. At the same time, the nurse is on their neck to get some gloves, rather quickly, so that they can undertake a vaginal examination to ascertain how far in labor the patient is. The husband, or the mother-in-law, obviously dejected, gets the few thousands they saved for diapers to undertake the demands. Painful 😣

So, tell me. The patient will be completely annoyed with the doctor. They will feel that they are extorting them. They will say how Serikali has provided Linda Mama, only for doctors to send them to specific labs to run tests. Then gloves. Then Normal Saline. We know of facilities where needles, strapping and syringes are lacking. So, now, is it not easy for the patient to blame health care givers, for things we are completely out of control? Ina way, Yes, since they are the people in some form of authority they are in contact with. The woke midukras will say, ambieni governor awapatie madawa, before heading to Facebook to defame the unmotivated, understaffed workforce… At 4 am, and in labor, to connect all the dots, to know that the illiterate MCA they elected has not passed a budget, or the Governor used the little allocation from Treasury to pay MCAs not to impeach them, would be an uphill task. We take the blame with grace.

You are most unlucky if such critical patients appear at 3 am when all private labs and chemists are closed. You will go to borrow gloves from other patients, promising them that the neighbor, with whom they are sharing a bed, will purchase others tomorrow and pay them back. Actually, be careful not to suffer some injury as the HCW, for there will be no gloves to dress you as well.

If one needed to consult the specialist, they have to call them at 4 am when all other Kenyans are asleep. The same Consultant, often not paid over 4 months, might need to come sort the primary care giver. The next morning, they must conduct the ward rounds, before proceeding to theatre or Special clinics. Mind you, there are places when one Gynecologist covers the entire County. Meaning, all Sub County Hospitals require his/her attention in cases of emergency. Being on call, even when not in hospital, means you can’t travel far from your working station. One cannot undertake any meaningful engagements and so on. How Angela Oketch undertook a whole month of shadowing, and missed such glaring gaps, is really telling, as is her visiting of Special Clinics on a public holiday.

We will keep writing and whining, doing no harm.

By the way, to put the whole matter in perspective, a look at Siaya’s current Governor’s post is a good case study. He was flagging off pharmaceutical and non pharma worth KSh 45 Million ( it is sickening to keep saying figures without mentioning what exactly was availed), but that is beside the point. He proceeds to mention that it ends the 4 months scarcity of drugs in the facilities. Pray tell me, what was happening all that time? Jesus was walking and touching the sick? Then, knowing too well that the new stock will obviously last a short time ( any Pharmacist can help a Journalist estimate how long the new stuff is likely to last), says that those drugs are not for sale in private health facilities… So, in the next few months, when a patient is asked to purchase drugs elsewhere, what will they say? Orengo alileta dawa zikapelekwa nje.. then he will be back and say.. we are ending 4 months shortages… I mean, whatever we make of 8-4-4, it is sufficient to help Kenyans know where the real issue is . And , for a dedicated journalist, a more comprehensive reporting is a moral obligation.

Perhaps a good place to start: let the good journalists go round the Counties, look at the new stocks being commissioned by governors, sit with County Pharmacists, and ask, “how long is this going to last?’ How comprehensive is it? ” Then, we can talk about the improvement of healthcare. To life. To Nation. To dignity.