Patient Commits suicide under unclear circumstances as doctors go on strike

A patient in Kakamega General Hospital has committed suicide in unclear circumstances.

Confirming the incident, Kakamega County police commander, Tito Kilonzo, said the patient, who was being treated for stomach ulcers,  left his wife who was tending to him at the hospital ward to go the washrooms complaining of stomach pains, only for his body to be found dangling in a bathroom.

Police are investigating whether the case is linked to the ongoing doctors’ strike.

Elsewhere, another patient died Sunday night at Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital.

The deceased’s body was still lying in the hospital bed hours after he passed away as the strike by doctors continues.

A spot check by Citizen Digital shows that health services have been paralysed across the country following the strike while the medics are holding demonstrations in most every major urban centres in the country.

Many patients have been compelled to return back home with dwindling hopes of assistance from the health facilities while others have been transferred to private institutions.

Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) and the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) started their strike on Monday, December 5 in honour of their 21-day strike notice they issued to the county governments.

The medics are pressing their employers to fulfill a salaries bargaining agreement they had reached.

A last minute attempt by the Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu to avert the looming crisis failed terribly as the health care providers skipped it, opting to proceed with the strike.

CS Mailu urged the medics to return to working saying their strike is uncalled for.