Residents of Maongoa area in Waita ward of Mwingi Central constituency in Kitui have to walk for over 15 kilometres to seek health services at Waita Health Centre as the county has failed to open the newly constructed Maongoa dispensary.
Expectant mothers have been forced to give birth to their homes due to the long distances covered in the quest for getting services at the nearest Waita Health Centre.
The residents are appealing to Kitui county governor Charity Ngilu to open up the dispensary, constructed five years ago.
“Early this year, the governor promised us that the dispensary will be opened and medics will also be deployed but nothing has been done,” said Cosmas Muthengi, the residents’ spokesperson.
The residents, who were speaking to KNA at the newly constructed dispensary, regretted that a one-and-a-half-year-old boy, who died of severe burns yesterday, would have been saved if the dispensary was operational.
“Had this dispensary been operational we would have saved the life of the boy who died due to delayed treatment,” said Muthengi.
They further complained of poor roads saying that they are forced to pay high transport cost of Sh. 400 from Maongoa village to Waita to seek health services.
“Our expectant women are forced to use motorcycles as a means of transport jeopardizing their lives and those of their unborn babies, with cases of mothers having stillbirths also reported,” said the resident’s spokesperson
The residents lamented that it was sad for Maongoa residents to have the dispensary but it is not of any help to them.
Meanwhile, Gladys Mueni Musya, 37, a mother of two is appealing for medical aid for her child born with the external bladder. Her one and a half-year-old boy has been scheduled to undergo a surgery at a cost of Sh 250,000.
“I am appealing for medical aid from well-wishers so that my baby can undergo the surgery,” said Mueni.
Despite being identified as male, the child lacks the male reproductive organs.
The child underwent first surgery at Kijabe Hospital at a cost of Sh 136,000 but it failed. Medical bill was paid via her husband’s NHIF card who later abandoned her after the infant developed more complications.
“My husband was helping me in seeking medical attention for our child but later he abandoned us after the child’s condition worsened,” added Mueni.
Mueni has been forced to quit her job due to her child’s condition that requires total attention and care.
Mueni, a single mother now has been having a hard time raising school fees for the other firstborn son who is in form two, and even putting food on the table has become a problem.