Kakamega’s imported oxygen plant stuck at port over taxes

The new medical oxygen plant Kakamega County imported from France last week is stuck at the port in Mombasa, Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has said.

The customs and clearance office is demanding Sh8 million in taxes before releasing the machine, he added.

“It is a shame that at this time of the Covid-19 pandemic we are being taxed on machines that are meant to save many lives,” he said.

Last week the governor had promised equipment would be set up right away.

“We have purchased a new oxygen plant … at a cost of Sh100 million and at the moment, it is being cleared at the port in Mombasa,” he said.

“This will go a long way in ensuring we have enough medical oxygen supply for even non-Covid-19 patients and post pandemic. It will be up and running after it is delivered to us.”

Oxygen shortage

His remarks came after the Nation highlighted the plight of Covid-19 patients in the region who are still being turned away from Kakamega General Teaching and Referral Hospital as it grapples with an oxygen shortage.

The crisis was triggered by medical referrals due to the surge in coronavirus infections in the neighbouring Kisumu County.

“Kakamega County General Hospital (KCGH) is currently facing a serious shortage of oxygen. The current oxygen plant, which is the main supplier of oxygen to the facility, has been outstripped by the demand,” he admitted at an official press briefing on Wednesday.

“At the moment the hospital can no longer admit critical Covid-19 patients demanding high oxygen flow due to the acute shortage of the commodity.”

The county government said that statistics showed the 13 counties in the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) continue to record higher Covid-19 positivity rates than the national rate.

Share medical resources

“It’s for this reason that all governors in the region held a meeting and resolved to share medical resources, especially oxygen facilities, in a bid to save lives and as a result Kakamega has been bearing the burden of providing medical care for Covid-19 patients from neighbouring counties who flood our medical facilities,” the governor said.

Last week, KCGH administrator Titus Mumia said the situation had worsened not only because the hospital was full but also because for the institution the quality of oxygen is the most important thing, not the quantity.

“We can’t close down our hospital to handle Covid-19 patients alone because we also have other normal patients who need to be attended to. If a Covid patient can consume 60 litres of oxygen per minute alone, what about the other non-Covid patients?” Mr Mumia posed.

On Wednesday, he said, the county had recorded 20 coronavirus patients admitted to KCGH and Mumias Level 4 Hospital.

“Two patients are in ICU at KCGH, one on oxygen and another one on a ventilator. Seven other patients are on oxygen support in Covid-19 general wards.”

Blamed Kemsa

The governor blamed the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) for delivering expiring Covid-19 testing kits, though when the Nation sought to know whether they verified and checked expiry dates before receiving the kits, he declined to respond.

“On June 14, 2021, Kakamega County received 2,106 test kits from Kemsa whose expiry date was July 3, 2021 — valid for two weeks. The health facilities were only able to use 1,104 of the kits due to expiry of the remaining 912,” he said.

He, however, added that a new supply of antigen reagents to conduct up to 4,000 tests is expected any time this week.

“St Mary’s Mission Hospital in Mumias is currently offering PCR tests at a subsidised cost. There are also 10 sub-county, two faith-based and two GK Prison facility labs that are able to offer antigen (rapid) tests,” the governor said.

Kakamega has received 38,300 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine of which 30,500 were used for inoculation in the first round and 7,800 for the second dose.

“So far the department of health has vaccinated 36,499 people for both the first and second doses,” he said.

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