A crisis is looming at Kenya’s biggest referral hospital, Kenyatta National Hospital after three key machines broke down.
KNH does not have a functioning magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, a laparoscopy tower machine and a skin grafting machine for the last one year, reports Daily Nation.
This has made it difficult for doctors to make diagnosis on patients who possibly require the help of the machines to reveal the cause of their illness.
Besides, further reveals Daily Nation, KNH has been outsourcing laundry services from Nairobi Hospital after its machines broke down last year in September.
Among the most affected are cancer patients who flock the hospital in desperation to get cancer treatment services.
One of the patients only identified as Paul is among scores who are suffering.
He was diagnosed with stage four bladder cancer in 2014 and he has been attending weekly clinics at KNH.
He also requires surgery after every four to five months to remove the tumors from his bladder.
This requires the laparoscopy machine which has since broken down. For him and four other patients who suffer from the same, they have not gotten the services for slightly over the last one year.
“The last time I went to KNH, the attending doctor told me he had borrowed the camera from another hospital to conduct the surgery. When I went for the service again in subsequent months, the doctor said he could not borrow the camera for the second time hence referring me,” said Paul.
He has since been referred to a private hospital where the cost of the non-invasive surgery costs between Sh200,000 and Sh340,000. He would get the same services at KNH for less than Sh30, 000.
“In the first operation, NHIF paid about 65 per cent of the bill. In the second surgery, which was three months apart, it only footed about 40 per cent, leaving the larger chunk of costs to me.”
“I have been suffering because the tumours lead to bleeding which eventually cause anaemia. This only means that if I do not have the tumours removed, I will need blood transfusion,” he plaintively recounted.
A complete single laparoscopy tower is estimated to be Sh6 million.
It is used for closed surgery in theatre for surgical procedures involving gynecology, spinal endoscopy among others.
For an MRI machine, it goes for between Sh15 million-a Used low-field MRI machine while a brand new can go for as high as Sh300 million.