Our doctors might as well be hawkers

Our doctors are behaving like hawkers. The Kenyan health sector is crumbling. Gone are the days when doctors would work for only one hospital. It is now common to find that several of them work in other hospitals and even their own clinics. These doctors hawk their services about at the expense of their patients who often times suffer in silence.

Private hospitals are not spared of this trend either. Most hospitals have now become more of a business than noble institutions. The medical profession in Kenya has lost its decency. Walking into any hospital for treatment without insurance is as good as staying out on the street . In most cases even those under NHIF covers are treated like second class citizens. Many doctors and nurses no longer care about the Hippocratic Oath in which they swear to uphold ethical standards and treat patients to the best of their ability.

This is the wrong career to choose if all you want is money. This occupation is a calling and should be treated as such. Cases of malpractice in this country seem to be on the rise. Doctors are constantly misdiagnosing and neglecting patients. Nurses even have the guts to walk past patients in critical conditions simply because they don’t feel like. A video has been doing rounds on the web showing nurses in Machakos level five hospital shamelessly ignoring a plea by a man to move a hit and run victim into the hospital. It is a shame that such people are still keeping their jobs.

We are literally at God’s mercy when we seek treatment. This caliber of doctors and nurses are transforming hospitals into valleys of death. Many are afraid to sue due to legal fees and long sessions in court. Cumbersome as it may seem, we must seek legal justice against these characters. Any action you take against such medical staff no matter how small may save more lives than you think.