Sad tale of community healthcare workers losing lives

A community health volunteer sensitises women on Covid-19 at a hospital. [File, Standard]

Three hours after she breathed her last at Jalaram Hospital in Kisumu, patients were still making desperate calls to Beatrice Otieno, a community health volunteer. About 200 households had been relying on her for their well-being during the pandemic.

It was midnight on a Friday when Ms Otieno, 43, was pronounced dead after developing breathing difficulties. She had been diagnosed with cervical cancer. Her husband Rodgers Okoth kept picking calls from mothers who either were in labour or patients who reported breathing difficulties and needed Otieno’s intervention.