Bid to fix the dire ambulance services in Homa Bay
An ambulance at the Homa Bay County Teaching and Referral Hospital on April 19.
“Was pronounced dead on arrival” is a phrase commonly used in stories about death in Kenya.
But the big question is: what happens between the scene of an accident or incident and the hospital?
In some counties, the means of taking patients to hospital are in dire straits.
Last month, Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga revealed that the county had 17 ambulances but a majority were not up to the task.
Ms Wanga said that apart from the “ambulance” writings, the vehicles look more like ordinary vehicles — except for their sirens and the beds.
The “ambulances”, she said, even lacked oxygen cylinders necessary for keeping alive critically ill patients with breathing complications.
To worsen the situation, the county’s main teaching and referral hospital also lacks a call and emergency centre, raising concerns on how critically ill patients and accident victims have been surviving.
“A number of residents have been struggling to get their patients to the hospital in times of emergency. Sometimes an individual has to go an extra mile of trying to reach out to individual doctors to come to their aid,” said Ms Wanga.
She has since instructed the County Health Department to install full oxygen cylinders among other necessary requirements in the available 17 ambulances.
The governor has also announced plans to set up a call and emergency centre to address emergencies and referrals from one hospital to another.
According to a source who spoke to Healthy Nation, most critically ill patients always arrive at the Homa Bay Teaching and Referral Hospital in a poor state or even dead.
Mr Calvince Odhiambo, an ambulance driver in Homa Bay County, said that one of his lowest moments was seeing a patient die of a complication that he says could have been avoided with the use of a well-equipped ambulance that has a trained practitioner.
“There is a time I picked a patient in Kendu Bay headed to the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu. But he died at the facility’s entrance,” he recalled.
According to a health worker at Homa Bay’s biggest health facility, a number of ambulances often lack oxygen supply.
Sometimes, the worker said, they may have the cylinders but lack the equipment used in administering it.
