Kisanana Health Centre where patients buy paraffin lamps

If there is one facility that represents everything that is wrong with devolved health services, it has to be Kisanana Health Centre.

The health centre has been plunged into darkness, forcing patients to buy lanterns and expectant mothers to deliver in the dark.

Kenya Power Company disconnected electricity to the facility two weeks ago after it failed to clear a paltry Sh30,000 bill.

The ensuing darkness has triggered an exodus of patients from the facility.

The health centre has been advising patients who are unable to move to other facilities to buy paraffin from a nearby shopping centre to light the dark wards.

The maternity ward has been especially hit hard by the crisis.

What used to be a modern, 20-bed capacity maternity ward constructed 10 years ago by the defunct county council of Koibatek is now a dark ghostly collection of largely unoccupied wooden beds.

The centre has been directing expectant mothers to other facilities, and, in extreme cases, assisted them to deliver inside dark wards, or using dim light from mobile phones.

Essential drugs in need of sterilisation have also been moved to the nearby Olkokwe health centre.

CRITICAL CONDITION

Patients in critical condition around the facility have to travel to the Rift Valley Referral Hospital, 50kms away.

"I brought my wife to deliver but the place was in total mess, the maternity ward was dark and nurses couldn't even trace the bed's position, we had to use a phone's spotlight," says Francis Kiptoo.

Kenya Power disconnected power at a time a free eye operation clinic was going on at the facility.

"Some surgeries were halfway and their families had to organise for transport for the surgeries to be completed elsewhere. Since then, health workers have deserted the facility, leaving behind a watchman,'' says Kiptoo.

When The Standard visited the facility at night, a lone watchman hired nine months ago, and who is yet to get his first salary, was the only visible figure roaming in the dark unfenced compound armed with a bow a few arrows.

Inside the maternity ward stood a few untidy wooden beds with cotton wool, pieces of used paper and drug bottles strewn on the floor.

Above the beds stands a dusty paraffin lamp.

The beds, according to local residents, can barely hold the weight of an expectant mother. A number of mothers on the throes of labour pain have ended up on the floor when the beds suddenly gave in.

"Expectant mothers have suffered injuries as these wooden beds break in the process of giving birth. Such a place needs modern maternity beds but pleas to have them replaced have been ignored,'' says Philomena Kirios.

At the pharmacy and injection room, doors and windows remain unlocked. Strangers can easily enter and help themselves to the drugs.

Unwashed pairs of scissors lie scattered on water buckets and windowpanes.

Apart from the watchman, two other subordinate staff members have since deserted the facility over Sh192,000 unpaid salary arrears.

This is not the first time the facility is facing a disconnection.

Water had also been disconnected until a resident footed the bill.

Even then, the taps largely remain dry.

"Sanitation at the facility has been adversely affected by the shortage of water. Those responsible with cleaning maternity clothes are forced to use dirty water from dams and community water sources," said Ms Kirios.

County Executive Committee in charge of health, Dr Andrew Kwonyike, blamed Kenya Power Company for not moving fast to restore electricity in the facility.

"The bill was cleared immediately after disconnection. The problem is that those who did the disconnection came from Nakuru and having them return is another challenge,'' he said.

On the sorry state of the facility, Kwonyike said this did not fall in his docket, but in the facility's officer in charge.

The facility is not the only pointer to the appalling state of medical facilities in the region.

A mobile clinic donated by Tullow oil Exploration Company to First Lady Margaret Kenyatta's Beyond Zero campaign has remained grounded for the past three months.

Residents say the truck was driven and parked inside a local administration staff quarters as soon as it was displayed at Chemolingot in July.