Lari hospital closed after a pharmacist test positive for coronavirus
Panic has gripped residents of Rukuma in Lari and its environs following reports that a medical personnel at the area level 4 hospital had tested positive to Covid-19.
The Kiambu county government has since closed the Lari Level 4 hospital which serves the expansive Lari, Limuru and parts of Flyover in Nyandarua county.
It was reported that a pharmacist at the facility felt unwell while at home in Ruiru and upon seeking medical attention he tested positive for the disease which is spreading like a bush fire across the world.
The pharmacist resides in Ruiru and commutes to the Lari hospital and he is, therefore, likely to have transmitted the disease to tens of people using the vehicles he has boarded before his medical condition bubbled to the surface on Thursday.
The pharmacist revealed to clinical officers at the Ruiru hospital that he works at Lari Level 4 hospital and they immediately informed the county government health department which ordered the closure of the facility on Friday evening.
Kiambu health executive Dr. Ng'ang'a Murega confirmed the incident saying that the hospital was closed temporarily to facilitate contact tracing, fumigation, and strengthening of protective measures.
He said that the hospital will be reopened soon after the County Covid management team approves the hospital fit to continue operating.
"We cannot talk much since we are conducting tests to our staff and we want to ensure all measures we have put in place are being followed. There is a team led by our director of medical services doing that job" he said on phone.
Silence and confusion rocked the facility yesterday with medics who had direct contact with the pharmacist wondering and fearing being quarantined.
The hospital which was upgraded from a health center, mainly attends outpatient since the ward facilities which will accommodate 270 beds are under construction.
Residents who were coming to seek for medical attention on Saturday and Sunday were stranded after learning that the facility was closed and fumigation was ongoing.
"We are shocked to learn that one of the staff is suffering from Covid 19. We fear that he might transmit the disease to very many patients because he gives them drugs upon prescription by clinical officers,"said a patient who sought anonymity.
The hospital had started receiving patients from Limuru sub county after the Tigoni sub county hospital was converted into the Kiambu Covid-19 isolation and treatment center.
Governor James Nyoro while commissioning the rehabilitation of the hospital which is along the busy Nairobi/Naivasha highway recently said that some doctors who were serving at Tigoni would be transferred to Lari.
This as a way of helping attend to the swelling number of patients from both Lari and Limuru sub-counties who will be seeking treatment at the facility.
He said that his health department has put enough measures to ensure no one gets infected with the viruses while seeking treatment in any hospital within the county.
On Saturday, the ministry of health reported that Kenya reached 7,577 Covid-19 cases after 389 people tested positive.
This was from 4,829 people who were tested within 24 hours which were between Friday and Saturday.
