Race against time to stop cholera as four die of deadly disease

The Kiambu County Government is racing against time to contain the spread of cholera, which has so far claimed four lives in the region.

Governor Kimani Wamatangi said up to now over 280 people have contracted the highly contagious and deadly disease in various parts of the county.

However, he said the county has made stringent interventions including provision of free clean water points particularly in Ruiru sub-county where there have been reports of people drinking contaminated water. Wamatangi announced that his government had established seven water points in all the five elective wards in Ruiru constituency that will see residents fetch free clean water.

Cooking water

“As a matter of urgency, we are  ensuring that people have access to clean drinking and cooking water. This is after it emerged that a number of water sources particularly boreholes in Ruiru are contaminated and unsafe,” he said.

Other measures taken to control spread of the disease include enough supply of drugs to health facilities.

“We have established that the disease is spreading in densely populated areas like Ruiru, Juja and Thika which often experience inadequate water supply,” said the county chief.

 To avert the spread, he urged residents to revisit Covid-19 containment measures such as regular washing of hands using clean water, drinking boiled water, keeping their premises clean and uphold high-levels of hygiene at all times.

At the same time, Kiambu will soon be able to streamline and monitor the disbursement and usage of its medical supplies through its county medical stores in Ruiru, which is almost com-plete. Wamatangi said the facility is 80 per cent completion and is hopeful that it will be operationalised by April.

It will receive and manage medical supplies as well as coordinate their distribution to the 114 health facilities across the county, monitor usage and make timely orders. Speaking after touring the facility at Ruiru Level Four Hospital, governor said the facility will cure the problem of unreliable supply of drugs and non-medical supplies.

The automated system will monitor medical supplies availability in all county health facilities.