Floods deny women free maternity services

By ROBERT KIPLAGAT

Baringo,Kenya:President Uhuru Kenyatta’s declaration that pregnant women enjoy free maternity services brought joy to many families.

The waiver has seen pregnant women throng hospitals for free services. However, as thousands of women across the country rejoice, their counterparts at an island in Baringo have nothing to smile about.

A facility where they would have accessed the services is submerged in water following floods during the recent heavy rains.

The dispensary in Ol Kokwo island in Lake Baringo is inaccessible, one month since the rains stopped.

Now, the island, which is home to over 3,000 residents, does not have any medical facility, with pregnant women being the worst affected. The dispensary was closed indefinitely.

Residents expressed displeasure over delay by Government to provide a solution despite them lodging the matter with relevant authorities.

Abject poverty

“Pregnant women are being forced to deliver at home, which is risky since most of them live in abject poverty and cannot afford to travel to Marigat, about 40km away,” said Stella Cherutich, a resident.

She noted hiring a boat from the island to Kampi ya Samaki, a centre on the mainland, to ferry a pregnant woman costs over Sh4,000.

Cherutich lamented that pregnant women are not enjoying free maternity service yet their counterparts across the country are.

“The women might never benefit from the Government services if situation remains the same,” she said.

Apart from maternity, sick residents have also been forced to seek medical care far from the island.

They are also at high risk of contracting water-borne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea due to overflowing latrines. The maternity wing at the facility was constructed by Constituency Development Fund at a cost of Sh800,000 and aimed to assist women to deliver safely.

Chief Francis Kipirich said the dispensary used to serve over 6,000 people in Mukutani, Kiserian, Kokwo and Lake Baringo locations, many of them who are now without recourse.

Ilchamus county ward representative Wesley Lekakimon decried the suffering residents are going through due to the swelling of the lake.

He said schools such as Ng’ambo, Salabani, Ilng’arua were adversely affected as roads leading to the institutions are impassable.

According to National Disaster Management Authority, Baringo County has incurred losses worth over Sh500 million due to floods, landslides and drought.