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Kenya: Meru Nurse Forced to Wear Garbage Bag As PPE

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6 years ago

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A nurse in Meru was last week forced to improvise personal protective equipment (PPE) from a plastic garbage bag before he attended to a patient suspected of suffering from Covid-19.

Images of the May 5 incident, showing the health worker wearing a garbage bag have been circulating online.

In one of the photos, the health worker is seen with his colleagues before he handled the patient.

The Nation independently verified that the incident happened at Miathene Sub-County Hospital in Tigania West on Tuesday evening last week.

Sources, who sought anonymity due to sensitivity of the matter, said the nurse resorted to use a plastic bag because there were no proper PPEs available at the hospital.

“There was a suspected case of Covid-19 that needed to be transferred to Meru Level Five Hospital on that day. The nurse was directed to accompany the patient in the hospital’s ambulance,” the source said.

When the Nation visited the hospital, the medical officer in-charge of the facility Laban Chabari said he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Health chief officer Kanana Kimonye said she had seen the photos but could not verify whether the incident happened in Meru.

“I received the photos and am informed that it happened in Miathene, but I cannot verify because I cannot see the face. If it did happen, I don’t understand why the health worker would do that and take photos.

It was not reported to us that they needed the PPEs,” Dr Kanana said. She added, “By last week, we had 500 PPEs in the store and received 1,000 more this week.”