Needle exchange program

By SANDRA CHAO

Religious leaders and members of the public have been urged to embrace the needle and syringe program that the government is set to introduce to drug addicts  next  month.
Coast provincial director of public health and sanitation Dr. Anisa Omar said that the injecting drug users(IDU) were the most at risk populations with regards to the spread of HIV and the program would go along way in preventing spread among addicts.
Speaking during an  IDU roundtable at the Pride Inn hotel in Mombasa Dr Omar  noted that country could only move to a state of zero infection for HIV if new infections were prevented.
"Many of the addicts we have at the coast are injecting drug users, as much as these are ailing people we need to prevent them from getting other  blood bone diseases,"she  said
Dr Omar explained that the government cannot embark on a project that is not beneficial to Kenyans and that had not been tried and proven in other countries.
countries like USA,  Mauritius,Tanzania, Canada, Ukraine and Vietnam have successfully implemented the program.
The provincial Director explained that apart from HIV the IDUs were at a greater risk of contracting diseases like Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C which could result in liver failure and liver cancer.
According to a report on HIV prevalence by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime released this year,one in every five injecting drug  users in Nairobi and co0ast provinces are living with HIV.
Over a third of the drug users sampled in the study admitted to  have reused  needles in the  past six months.
The needle and syringe program is expected to target the 22,500 injecting drug users in Nairobi and  26,667 in Coast province.
Eight million needles and syringes are expected to be rolled out in the next one year of the program which is partly funded by USAID.
Dr Fred Owiti explained that the successful execution of the program could help bring out the drug users  and help rehabilitate them.
"Though the whole idea sounds awful the exchange program will help organizations working with drug addicts build a trust with them and help those willing to be rehabilitated.it has been tried and proven that it can help prevent some of the vices like thuggery that are associated with drug abuse," he  said
Dr Owiti added that apart from HIV counseling the program would provide an opportunity for drug addicts to be given referral to rehabilitation centers and to access other medical services.
NACADA Sheikh Juma Ngao urged religious leaders not to dismiss the program without first getting to understand what it was all about.
"I have seen for myself what the program can do so why not use it here and save the youth  of this country who are already afflicted by drugs from perishing," he said.
He noted that the government was yet to secure the country's borders and drugs like heroin and cocaine still found their way into cities of Mombasa and Nairobi.
opposing the view Famau Ali Mohammed the chairman if community policing in Malindi noted that by enrolling the program the government would be agreeing to the sale of drugs in the country and urged the government to engage all stakeholders in pursuing other avenues before rolling it out.

Ajuza wa miaka 80, abakwa

Na SANDRA CHAO

Ajuza wa miaka themanini katika kijiji cha Madzeyani kata ya Magarini katika Kaunti ya Kilifi anauguza majeraha baada  ya kubakwa hapo jana na mwanaume wa miaka ishirini na moja.

Mkongwe huyo  alikuwa ameenda kwa shamba lake lililoko umbali wa kilomita moja unusu kutoka kwa nyumba yake mwendo wa saa tisa mchana ili kupalilia mahindi.

Kwa mujibu wa kaimu chifu wa eneo la Pumwani Bw Albert Kazungu mwanamke huyo hakuweza kupiga mayowe kwani kijana huyo aliyetambulika kama Huzuni Kahindi alimfunga mdomo na kutishia kumuua.

“Mama huyu hakuweza kupiga mayowe baada ya kutishiwa lakini aliweza kuripoti kisa hicho kwa majirani punde tu baada ya kuwasili nyumbani kwake,” alisema chifu huyo.

Bw Kazungu alisema kwamba kijana aliyemvamia mknogwe huyo alikuwa ni mchungaji kutoka kwa kijiji cha karibu cha Mpirani na alikuwa anaelekea na mifugo hao katika eneo la malishoni huko madzeyani alipokumbana na ajuza huyo na kumtendea uhalifu huo.

Ilichukuwa juhudi za wananchi na utawala wa mikoa kuweza kumkamata kijana huyo na kumpeleka katika kituo cha karibu cha polisi kilichoko Marekebuni.

“Tukishirikiana na wanakijiji tuliweza kulinda mlango wa kutokea Madzeyani na  kumkamata mshukiwa akiwaanarudi n mifugo yake na tukampeleka polisi baada ya ajuza huyo kumtambua,” alisema Bw Kazungu

Kwa sasa Kahindi anazuiliwa katika kituo cha polisi mjini Malindi huku akingojea kufunguliwa mashtaka pindi polisi wanapokamilisha uchunguzi wao.

“Kitendo hiki ni cha kwanza cha aina yake kuwahi kutokea katika eneo hili nan i matumaini yetu kwamba  afunguliwe mashtaka na kufikishwa mahakamani haraka,” chifu alieleza

Ajuza huyo alipokea matibabu kutoka kwa hosipitali kuu ya wilaya ya Malindi na kuruhusiwa kurudi nyumbani.

                                 

Know where you access your health care

By Sandra Chao

Members of the public have been asked to be cautious about seeking treatment and other medical services abroad.

Chairman of the Kenya orthopaedic association Dr Fred Otsyeno told Kenyans to conclusively look for treatment within the country before choosing to go abroad.

Dr Otsyeno explained that some of the surgeries that people go for in far of destinations can successfully be conducted by specially trained doctors within the country.

“Medical tourism has begun taking root in Kenya and the exploitation is now becoming a very worrying trend. So many people are going for treatments away from here because it is said that they are cheaper and better provided out there which might not be case. Who is to blame after you go out there and something goes wrong?” he queried.

The chairman noted that the country’s medical field had evolved through the years in the provision of quality of services illustrating that it was possible to have knee and hip replacements done within the country unlike before.

Speaking during the 6^th Annual Scientific Conference at the Temple Point Resort in Watamu, Dr Otsyeno warned that there was no way to protect Kenyans from quacks if they pursued services of quacks in foreign countries.

At the same time, the orthopaedic doctors warned of fake doctors purporting to come into the country to provide specialized treatment cheaply.

The chairman elucidated that unqualified people were using these affordable services platforms as ways of getting into the country and setting up their own practises despite being incompetent.

“Some of these people who come from foreign countries to offer their services of a short while soon end up opening their own private practises when we cannot be sure that what they are doing here is what they have been practising in their home countries,” said Dr Otsyeno.

He urged the medical board which is tasked with issuing temporary licenses to such visiting doctors to look beyond the papers and investigate what they do at home adding that certificates in this day and age could easily be forged.

He also decried the small number of practising orthopaedic surgeons in the country, adding that the Government needed to capitalize in the training of those who wanted to pursue orthopaedic surgery.

“We acknowledge that training an orthopaedic surgeon is very expensive but the Government needs to invest in the infrastructure not only for the training but also facilities within public health facilities where they can practise and become better in the skill,” he said.

There are less than 100 orthopaedic surgeons when we could do with a ratio of one doctor to a population of 10,000,Dr Otsyeno added.