The Health Ministry has raised alarm over the growing number of Covid-19 patients escaping from quarantine facilities.
The ministry said it fears the trend could derail the government’s efforts to combat the spread of Covid-19, which has so far infected 2,340 people in Kenya and killed 78.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe warned the ministry may be forced to expose those who flee quarantine facilities by publishing their photos and names in local dailies to alert members of the public on the risk they are exposed to.
“When we get to a point where we know some people are running away there is nothing to stop the Ministry of Health from publishing photographs in the newspapers and saying that these people have run away from a quarantine facility and if you see them call the police or us because they are a danger to society,” Kagwe said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, six people who had tested positive for Covid-19 escaped from a facility in Turkana but the ministry managed to trace them.
At the same time, the Ministry of Health announced it is in the process of adopting home-based care protocols for Covid-19 patients.
This would see all symptomatic Covid-19 patients held in isolation facilities across the country released to undergo medical care at home.
“If this is implemented it would free our health facilities from congestion. Home-based care is a key intervention that is approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and it is meant to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed,” said CS Kagwe.
The ministry indicated that two of the country’s main Covid-19 isolation centers—Mbagathi Hospital and Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital—are nearly full even as the number of infections continues to spike.
