Dr Samson R.A. Mijoro, the new doctor of the Matata Children’s Hospital wrote the following for our website.
The Matata Hospital is located some 400 kilometres from Nairobi and just over 100 kilometres from the city of Kisumu, the provincial capital of Nyanza Province, with a population of about 7 million. It is in Rachwonyo district, which, like the rest of the province, is one of the poorest in the republic.
Economy of the district:
Agriculture at the level of subsistence fishing, which is now dominated by commercial firms which have effectively robbed the local communities of the much need income and affordable high protein diet.
Livestock- owned by a few.
Poverty:
Diseases that affect ability to work and produce wealth inadequate diet, that ensure good health and ability to work and produce wealth.
Poverty is rampant because of many factors among which are, official
neglect as has been stated above, unemployment which is above 90 percent, lack of good education- not everybody can afford good education due to lack of money.
Diseases among others are:
- Malaria
- Pneumonia
- TBC
- HIV/AIDS
- Diarrhoea
- Asthma
- Cancers- uteri, cervix, ovary, oesophagus, prostates, lymphomas, stomach etc
- Measles, Hypertension
- Anaemia-very rampant may be because of the poverty leading poor diet
- Malnutrition
Factors contributing to diseases and death, among others, are:
- Pause in publish awareness on causes and preventing of diseases.
- Low socio/economic status Ignorance Customs/culture Stigma Weather.
- Promoting the spread of malaria and other infectious diseases Poor.
- Accessibility to health facility because most patients lack money and live
in distant places with very bad roads, therefore most of the patients tend to
delay or postpone attending hospitals for treatment.
- Lowered resistance to diseases due to poor diet.
- Many people die at home because of lack of money to travel to hospital or pay
for the services.
Limitations faced by hospital in order to provide excellent health care to the community are among many:
- Lack of enough funds to employ enough doctors, clinical officers, nurses and auxiliary staff.
- Lack of enough funds to buy enough modern diagnostic equipment.
- Lack of funds to reach all the patients at the outreach level.
- Lack of funds to provide medical staff with good continued medical Education.
From the doctor’s viewpoint I appeal for:
- Help improve the laboratory equipment.
- Four wheel vehicles to alleviat outreach services Funds to increase.
- Number of doctors, clinical officers, nurses and auxiliary staff.
- Funds for continued medical education for staff in order to uplift the level of
care at the hospital and in the community.
Way forward
The staff works hard and long hours without complaining since they know they are providing humanity with the much needed health services.
I must say that during my short stay at the hospital many patients are very reluctant to be referred elsewhere for care, which to me is a direct reflection of their satisfaction with the staff and the management.
With time the hospital will be playing a major role in uplifting the health of the community and with this their productivity in the economy of the same community and country.
I am very pleased to serve at the hospital.
I personally am very pleased that you are contributing to all that I have said above and much more. Keep it up and may God bless you all.
DR SAMSON R.A. MIJORO
July 2010
