Sharp rise in Covid deaths causes alarm in lake region
Medical experts have raised concern over a sharp increase in Covid-19 related deaths in areas around the Lake Basin.
Reports of sudden deaths are on the rise not only in rural villages in Kisumu, but also in the neighbouring counties of Busia, Kakamega, Vihiga, Homa Bay, Siaya, Kisii and Kericho.
Even though some of the deaths have not been captured in the Health ministry’s daily updates, patients in majority of the cases exhibited Covid-like symptoms.
On Monday, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Referral Hospital in Kisumu recorded six deaths, sparking panic among medics and other health authorities.
At the other isolation centre in the town’s Kondele estate, seven deaths were recorded on the same day.
Sources say the Kondele isolation centre with a 70-bed capacity has been recording at least six deaths daily, most of them occurring at night.
Bed capacity
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga hospital, with a Covid bed capacity of 20, has been recording a daily fatality rate of at least five, meaning that out of every five patients admitted, two die of the disease.
“The death rates from Covid-19 related complications are increasing everyday.
Other cases are reported at the casualty where patients with worse conditions succumb before being admitted,” said a source.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Kisumu is said to have recorded 180 reported deaths, Siaya 30, Busia 100 , Vihiga 50, Kakamega 80 , Kisii 50, Migori 60 and Homa Bay 80.
In the last one month, Kisumu has recorded 70 reported Covid deaths while Kakamega has lost more than 30 people in the same period.
Villagers in most of the 14 counties that form the Lake Basin Economic Bloc (LREB) claim a majority of sudden deaths occurred due to a lack of medical support, oxygen, and collapsed health facilities amid the recent crisis.
According to Dr Khama Rogo, the LREB Covid-19 advisory chairman, the region is experiencing a surge in new infections and fatalities as well as a spike in the number of Covid-19 patients seeking critical care.
“People are dying at home and in hospitals at an alarming rate,” Dr Rogo said.
The doctor said figures being given by the Health ministry were “highly suppressed” and at variance with the reality on the ground where the pandemic is devastating the population.
“Right now we cannot give you the exact number of fatalities with certainty because the ministry only collects data of people who die in hospitals,” Dr Rogo said.
Yesterday, Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma warned that the pandemic had devastated the region and called on the government to institute urgent mitigation measures.
“Covid-19 is decimating Luo Nyanza villages, especially the old and vulnerable. We demand intensified vaccination and better health facilities,” Kaluma said.
He discounted daily figures released by the Health ministry, insisting that people were losing their loved ones at an alarming rate.
“If no immediate action is taken by the government, we will find ourselves in a situation similar to that of India,” Kaluma told People Daily.
Sources in Kisumu said the two isolation centres, Kondele and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga hospital, were full to capacity with authorities only admitting patients needing critical care, while those considered “able” are turned away to recover at home.
Kisumu Central sub-county remains the epicentre of the disease, with majority of the LREB cases having been reported here. Positivity rate in the county has remained at 23.3 per cent in the last one month, a percentage that Dr Rogo terms “dangerous”.
Kisumu County has so far registered a cumulative 7, 052 Covid-19 cases as at June 30.
The story is the same in Kakamega County where a sharp rise in Covid-19 related fatalities in homes has caused panic among residents.
The constant sound of ambulances has become normal in many villages in the county.
Local administrators have noted a sharp rise in demand for burial permits in recent weeks with chiefs saying they issue between five and 10 burial permits in a single day.
“I write not less than five burial permits every day. People are dying at an alarming rate; this is unusual,” said Khayega location chief Gerald Murunga.
Medical facilities are overflowing with patients, many in critical care units.
Overstreched facilities
Medics at the Kakamega County Referral Hospital told People Daily that they lose an average of three patients in daytime and two at night on a daily basis to Covid.
“There was a day, last week, when we lost two males and three females during the day and two males and a lady at night. All succumbed to Covid and were in the ICU,” said a doctor who asked not to be identified.
The Kakamega Funeral Parlour has increased preservation charges from Sh500 to Sh1,000 a day while Mukumu charges Sh2,000 daily in a move aimed at discouraging relatives from keeping bodies for long.
Cases of people collapsing and dying at home or while being rushed to medical facilities have become common in the area.
“We are losing our members to suspected Covid-19 at an alarming rate,” said the Kenya National Union of Teachers county chairman Patrick Chungani.
The county Health Executive Collins Matemba said medical facilities were overstretched and that they had run out of oxygen.
“It is a disaster in our health facilities and I wish doubting Thomases could visit and witness. We have run out of oxygen and patients are now supposed to source for it themselves because our hands are tied,” he said. —Reports by Noven Owiti, Denis Lumiti and Anthony Mwangi
