The umbrella nurses’ association has sounded an alert over the increased cases of deaths and infections due to COVID-19 among healthcare workers in Kenya.
National Nurses Association of Kenya (NNAK) President Alfred Obengo says by July 28, 2020, the virus had claimed the lives of eight healthcare workers while more than 500 cases had been recorded countrywide.
“Because our data collection is not the best, the number of nurses and other healthcare workers who have died is likely to be higher,” Mr Obengo said.
Among those who have tested positive for COVID-19 is the acting Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union secretary-general Dr Chibanzi Mwanchoda who was infected while dispensing his official duties.
Earlier, the NNAK president identified Nairobi county as having the highest number of those who have died (five cases) while Mombasa, Kajiado and Wajir counties have recorded one death each.
“The increasing deaths and cases due to coronavirus is weakening our working capacity, cognizant to the fact that healthcare workers are working in shifts and others are in isolation.” Mr Obengo called on the national and county governments to move with speed and ensure that healthcare workers welfare is addressed urgently.
This, Mr Obengo noted, should be done through the urgent provision of adequate quality Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), proper training on managing COVID-19, adequate psychosocial support (to assist in addressing stigma among those infected) and the employment of additional healthcare workers in all the 47 counties.
“At the same, we want the Sh15,000 monthly COVID-19 emergency allowance which was announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta—and was to be paid for only three months to healthcare workers—to be extended as long as the virus (is still around),” he said.
Mr Obengo revealed that the distribution of PPEs worth Sh200 million is currently on-going to safeguard the safety of nurses and other healthcare professionals.
NNAK and other healthcare associations are providing technical support to the Equity Group Foundation and the Kenya COVID-19 Fund, jointly undertaking the initiative. He identified the exercise as among the association’s three priority measures to safeguard healthcare workers which include proper training and provision of psychosocial support.
While advocating for more resources, Mr Abengo reiterated that nurses and midwives among other healthcare personnel are underequipped, under-staffed, undertrained and therefore the additional investment is needed to address these three critical gaps.
He added that amid the rising cases of COVID-19 across the country, the situation in healthcare centres has continued to move from bad to worse, a development that is endangering not only the lives of healthcare workers but also that of their families.
This, he said, maybe a hindrance to offering quality services, putting into consideration the fact that the ratio of nurses to patients has not been attained.
“Our nurses and midwives need to be secured, now more than ever before,”. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. In Kenya, NNAK has rolled out a campaign aimed at recognizing, celebrating and honouring nurses and midwives while also highlighting the challenges they face.
Meanwhile, WHO has warned of the threat posed by COVID-19 to health workers across Africa saying more than 10,000 healthcare workers in 40 countries had been infected by end of July
