A sick nation! Kenyans share shocking tales of country's rotten healthcare systems

The campaign has seen Kenyans, most drawn from the medical fraternity, share horrid stories and photos of the dreadful state of affairs across various major hospitals in Kenya, with many narrating harrowing tales of the horrors patients go through at public hospitals.

The campaign gathered more steam after Citizen Digital published appalling photos of the deplorable state of Ishiara Hospital - rotting ceilings, decayed latrines, broken toilet bowls, rusted doors, filthy water, mucky floors, soiled sheets and grimy walls.

Everything, from the photos, pointed to a massively neglected institution, with more photos revealing torn mattresses, ghostly wards, corroded beds and unsightly latrines whose doors were falling apart and floors were covered in slime.

Buoyed by the Ishiara debacle, more and more revelations came to the fore.

X user Joel Jirani, a health activist, also shared more photos from Meteitei Sub-County in Nandi County, which showed more of the same, if not worse, state of affairs.

At Meteitei, thin mattresses, frayed at the edges, are seen precariously placed on rickety, rusty beds.

Others show crumpled, yellowing bed sheets, an indication of abject neglect as body oils, sweat, detergent residue and dust plunge beddings into dingy chaos.

Beyond just the pictorial display of the dreadful shame, other medical practitioners, patients and everyday Kenyans also shared nerve-wracking tales of neglect, pain, anguish and extreme distress patients go through at public hospitals.

Someone on X wrote: "We have no HEALTHCARE! A source at KTRH tells me the whole orthopaedic theatre is only used by consultants, and as a result, the hospital severely lacks equipment. There's no Water! A patient had to be sent away from the OPERATING TABLE because there was no water. What f**ass country is this?"

Lemmah Mwangi, a nurse, wrote: "Level 5 hospitals lack anti-rabies vaccine. If you get a dog bite, it will cost you roughly 10k to get treatment. Emergencies come in, but there are no essential drugs, and you are out of stock. You’re forced to improvise or refer. Time is lost. Lives are lost. Blame goes to the doctors. But looters are outside here donating money in useless functions!"

X user Natanyanyu, a pain specialist, also chimed in, writing: "99% of government hospitals are not equipped to handle medical emergencies. Even Doctors know that ata yeye mwenyewe akifaint at work, chances za kwenda sayuni ni 99%. A hospital isn't a fancy 5-storey building. Give us essential supplies, and we will treat patients under a tree."

Yet another observation: "A few years ago, I had to run around Malindi looking to buy a UWSD set with my own money for a kid who had undergone heart surgery at KNH & developed HBI. Kid had a tracheostomy & needed draining daily. Malindi general hospital didn't have one that was usable at the time."

And another one: "SHA doesnt cover revision surgeries. For example, ukifanywa surgery ya knee then ipate complications and you cant afford cash payment for the revisit surgery, you are stuck and definitely going to loose your leg or arm."

Yet another: "I had an 11 year old patient who got bitten by a snake with cytotoxic venom. The only antivenom we had in the hospital had expired in 2014. I had to watch the patient's platelets drop from 300 to 1 not being able to do anything, watching blisters form from the snakebite!"

Wambui Chelagat also shared an experience, writing, "SHA is working but pediatric surgeons will tell you babies with Anorectal malformations cannot get all their surgeries done in a year because SHA covers only two major surgeries in a year."

Yet another harrowing tale: "On this day following a presidential roadside decree of shoot in the leg, we removed a bullet from a Gen Z leg. Others with injuries waited outside. By the way, GOK hospitals cant handle back to back surgeries juu hizi makasi lazima zioshwe zitumiwe na next patient, takes more than 1hour."

Caroline Njeri also shared a SHA complain, writing, "Last week, a friend had surgery that cost 250,000/- SHA only paid 3,920/- for the bed. Her major frustration was. Payslip is deducted. Her surgery was not paid for, and she is still has contribute to medical fundraisers for her people. Pesa ya SHA inaenda wapi?"

These complaints, Kenyans hope, may ignite a wider national conversation around healthcare, with the hope that the reports may reach the highest offices in the county and national levels, but still, Kenyans are not so optimistic about realising any radical improvement even after the outcry.

Jared Kibiso noted: "When a public hospital cannot provide a single vial of anti-venom or a basic course of antibiotics, it ceases to be a hospital; it becomes a waiting room for the inevitable. The burden of procurement has shifted from the state to the citizen, effectively privatizing healthcare! I doubt our leaders even care about what we are even saying. We live in a failed state!"