Nurses in Kenya’s capital and 2 towns have declined to deal with presumed coronavirus patients because the federal government has not provided adequate protective equipment or training, a medical union chief stated.

Just a portion of Kenya’s approximated 100,000 health care employees had gotten any direction in how to safeguard themselves, Seth Panyako, the secretary-general of the Kenya National Union of Nurses, informed reporters.

Federal government spokesperson Cyrus Oguna stated he would look into the reports of the training and protective equipment shortages.

Kenya had reported 28 cases of the coronavirus and one death since Friday. The infection has actually up until now been increasing throughout Africa more gradually than in Asia or Europe – however, the World Health Organization has cautioned the continent’s window to suppress the infection is narrowing every day.

Nurses in the western Kenyan town of Kakamega and the seaside city of Kilifi fled when patients with coronavirus signs concerned their medical facilities over the past two weeks, Panyako stated on Thursday.

Nurses at Nairobi’s Mbagathi County Healthcare facility went on a go- sluggish protest recently in protest at an absence of protective equipment and training. They feared to capture the illness and to contaminate their households, Panyako stated.

“The government is not taking it seriously when health workers run away,” he stated.

“My clear message to the government … give them the protective equipment they need.”

Panyako, whose union represents 30,000 health employees, stated he had just become aware of 1,200 personnel getting training in how to safeguard themselves.

A host of efforts have emerged to fill the spaces.

Kenyan start-up Rescue.co, whose Flare app works like the Uber for private ambulances in Kenya, recently started using training and protective equipment for the 600 nurses and paramedics utilizing its network.

One paramedic on a course informed reporters he had formerly declined to participate in a thought coronavirus patient because he did not have training.

“The team was scared, so we didn’t go,” he stated, declining to offer his name.

Caitlin Dolkart, who co-established rescue.co started her business had obtained federal government authorization for qualified paramedics to perform coronavirus tests in patients’ houses.

“They are on the frontlines of responding to patients,” she stated. “They have to be protected.”

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