Patients and staff at the Kenyatta National Hospital are being warned of a surgeon that is infected with Covid-19 and yet refusing to isolate himself, something that caused an outrage among citizens.
According to news reports, there are worries that he may have infected his colleagues and patients with the virus as he was still interacting with them freely.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe says the ministry is largely upset and disappointed by the medic’s very selfish act.
“We are also asking that the health professionals must adhere to what we are saying because we know that there are some who are misbehaving,”Kagwe said while visiting the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council offices on Wednesday, July 29.
The CS said that the surgeon wanted to operate on a patient despite knowing his positive state and the danger he was posing to his team members and patients.
“Fortunately, he didn’t because a nurse reported him,” Kagwe said thanking the nurse for her swift action.
So far, a sum of 634 medical officers including nurses, clinical officers, pharmacists, laboratory technicians and medical doctors in Kenya have contracted Covid-19 since March. Some of them were in the line of duty when they got infected.
Statistics indicate that this is roughly 3% of the cases in Kenya and the number is way below the global infection rate of medics which is 10%.
On Wednesday July 29, the ministry reported 544 new positive cases which bring the national tally to 19,125.