The Nakuru County government is mourning the death of Chief Officer in charge of Public Health Samwel King’ori, who succumbed to Covid-19.
His death comes six days after that of the county’s Deputy Director of Political Affairs Wilfred Chebochok, who succumbed to Covid-19 related complications.
“We regret to announce the passing of Public Health CO, Samwel King’ori. For the past few days, he had been hospitalised with Covid-19-related complications and had shown great recovery. However, yesterday at around 9.40am he suffered cardiac arrest,” said Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui.
Mr Kinyanjui hailed King’ori as a committed servant leader, who greatly supported the county in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“He was in the forefront in the fight against Covid-19. He mobilised, trained and coordinated the public health workers as well as vulnerable groups in the county,” said Kinyanjui.
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King’ori is credited with improved health services in the county and strategic financial management.
“He was instrumental in laying our healthcare strategy plan that resulted in the upgrade of service delivery and infrastructure. He was very passionate for results and took great pride in making Nakuru a better county,” said Kinyanjui.
At the onset of Covid-19 pandemic last year, King’ori was actively involved in the enforcement of regulations, where he supervised late night fumigation of urban centers after Nakuru was declared a hotspot.
On March 21, 2019, King’ori was among six new chief officers sworn in by Kinyanjui when he (the governor) re-organised his team.
Earlier on, King’ori, served as the county’s Health Director, having been seconded to the devolved unit from the national government.
King’ori becomes the third senior member of the executive arm of the county government to succumb to Covid-19.
In September last year, the county’s Director of Roads and Transport James Ochieng’ succumbed to the virus.
For the past one month the county has been recording a sharp increase of Covid-19 cases, with 52 new cases confirmed on March 21.
So far the total number of confirmed cases stands at 5,756.
Last Sunday the county announced the deaths of five residents, bringing the total number of deaths to 129.
Currently 113 people are admitted to various hospitals in the county, with 103 under supplementary oxygen.
