Deaf patients want sign language interpreters at hospitals
Samburu County Referral Hospital
People with disabilities in Samburu want the government to employ sign language interpreters at major hospitals to help patients with hearing impairments.
Deaf patients face numerous challenges accessing health services in the region, including communication barriers that hinder quality services.
The Constitution has provisions for promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities in all spheres of life, but Samburu has done little to ensure they are accorded basic requirements. Hiring sign language interpreters would be in line with the constitutional provisions.
"We are being overlooked in several sectors … It is time that sign interpreters are provided at major healthcare facilities to assist the disabled, especially the deaf ones," said David Lenakwapus, a leader of people with disabilities in Samburu.
When deaf patients visit health centres, Mr Lenakwapus said, health staff ask them to write down their sickness on a piece of paper. This, he said, is ineffective due to the high number of illiterate individuals in the region.
He added that most patients are discouraged from seeking health services, with some only turning up at hospitals when their ailments worsen.
"It is important to ask for interpreters because deaf patients have a hard time expressing themselves to physicians," he said.
No hospital in the region, including Samburu County Referral Hospital, has a sign language interpreter.
Most patients shy away from seeking medical care due to a range of factors, including stigma, distance and culture. But the county is banking on community health volunteers to expand access to community-based primary health care services for rural families.
Samburu County, a largely arid region, faces an uphill task in its efforts to achieve its community health goals, as a large percentage of locals are nomadic pastoralists who travel from one place to another in search of water and pastures for their animals.
Hundreds of children across Samburu often die each year from preventable and treatable diseases like pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria due to lack of access to health facilities and doctors.
Health volunteers are helping to eliminate preventable maternal and child deaths and strengthen resilience to public health emergencies.
