Athi River Shalom Hospital cleared to resume operations

Athi River Shalom Hospital has been cleared to resume normal operations barely three days after three patients succumbed to COVID-19.

Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Council (KMPDC) CEO Daniel Yumbya said the decision follows a report issued on Monday to the council and the Machakos County Government.

Dr Yumbya directed the hospital’s management to ensure fumigation and disinfection of the entire facility prior to resumption of operations.

“The hospital management should ensure availability of PPE’s for health workers,” he said.

KMPDC further ordered the Director of Health in Machakos County Government to ensure all health workers who tested positive for COVID-19 are quarantined in a special ward within the facility in line within the ministry guidelines.

Some of the patients who turned positive in the facility have since been transferred to Kangundo Level 4 Hospital.

Dr Yumbya further directed all security officers deployed at the facility to vacate the premises while over 100 patients who had been admitted for various illnesses were allowed to proceed for 14-day self-quarantine.

According to Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua, out of the 139 samples collected from the facility by end of last week, 16 had turned positive, six of them being health workers. Notably, one of them was a laboratory technician.

Mutua had blamed the facility’s management for allowing health care workers to operate without PPEs while dealing with suspected COVID-19 cases.

“Great concern with Shalom’s operations arose after a patient died in a general ward of COVID-19. My officers ordered quarantining of the ward of 26 for two weeks,” Mutua said in a statement.

The County Chief said that Shalom hospital further admitted an additional 4 patients into the quarantined ward exposing them to danger.