Kenyatta National Hospital was today overflowing with cholera patients with two wards set aside to handle them full beyond their holding capacity.
This comes as the government admitted that the cholera outbreak in Nairobi is almost hitting a crisis level and requires concerted urgent measures with the public’s involvement to curb the spread.
A source at the hospital authenticated reports that large numbers of patients were coming into the facility with cholera symptoms with most of them said to have been rejected at private hospitals.
However, the source sought anonymity due to protocol issues related to communication on the matter to avoid contradictions.
“We have decided as the management of the hospital to allow the ministry to discuss about it with county governments in order to issue a harmonised statement. However, we are open to any referrals from other facilities, but we are now stretched to the limits,” the source said.
The source however, denied the two wards were established to handle cholera cases, but one of them had been set up as an emergency holding facility during the Ebola outbreak in August 2014.
Health Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Cleopa Mailu today admitted the hygiene-related disease was becoming a crisis and announced stringent measures to curb its spread since it was first reported across the County in the last one month.
According to Mailu, the taskforce formed by the state in collaboration with the County Government of Nairobi is rolling out a number of recommendations which are being implemented to tame spread of Cholera in the neighboring counties.
Among the measure that the government has put in place include the banning of outsourcing of foodstuff for hotels supplying food to conferences in the city.
