Some Kenyan nurses refuse coronavirus patients in protest over shortages - union

By Katharine Houreld
NAIROBI, March 27 (Reuters) - Nurses in Kenya's capital and
at least two towns have launched protests or refused to treat
suspected coronavirus patients because the government has not
given them enough protective gear or training, a medical union
chief said.
Only a fraction of Kenya's estimated 100,000 healthcare
workers had received any instruction in how to protect
themselves, Seth Panyako, the secretary general of the Kenya
National Union of Nurses, told Reuters.
Government spokesman Cyrus Oguna said he would check into
the reports of the training and protective gear shortages.
Kenya had reported 28 cases of the coronavirus and one death
as of Friday. The virus has so far been multiplying across
Africa more slowly than in Asia or Europe - but the World Health
Organization has warned the continent's window to curb the
infection is narrowing every day. Nurses in the western Kenyan town of Kakamega and the
coastal town of Kilifi ran away when patients with coronavirus
symptoms came to their hospitals over the past two weeks,
Panyako said on Thursday.
Nurses at Nairobi's Mbagathi County Hospital went on a
go-slow protest last week in protest at a lack of protective
gear and training. They feared catching the disease and
infecting their families, Panyako said.
"The government is not taking it seriously when health
workers run away," he said.
"My clear message to the government ... give them the
protective equipment they need."
Panyako, whose union represents 30,000 health workers, said
he had only heard of 1,200 staff getting training in how to
protect themselves.
A host of initiatives have sprung up to fill the gaps.
Kenyan start-up Rescue.co, whose Flare app functions as the
Uber for private ambulances in Kenya, last week began offering
training and protective equipment for the 600 nurses and
paramedics using its network.
One paramedic on a course told Reuters he had previously
refused to attend a suspected coronavirus patient because he did
not have training.
"The team was scared so we didn't go," he said, declining to
give his name.
Caitlin Dolkart, who co-founded rescue.co, said her company
had applied for government permission for trained paramedics to
carry out coronavirus tests in patients' homes.
"They are on the frontlines of responding to patients," she
said. "They have to be protected."

(Editing by Andrew Heavens)