This archive report was first published on 14 July 2020.
July 14, 2020 - Nairobi's Pumwani Maternity Hospital has reported 41 COVID-19 cases, with 19 medical staff among the infected.
According to Acting Health Director-General Dr. Patrick Amoth, the cases were reported after a targeted testing exercise was conducted on 290 staff at the facility.
Dr. Amoth confirmed that 22 of the infected staff work as support staff, while the remaining 17 are medical officers, clinical officers, nurses, and laboratory technology assistants.
Fortunately, none of the infected staff have a pre-existing condition, and the infected workers range from medical officers to clinical officers, nurses, and laboratory technology assistants.
Three nurses stationed at the newborn unit, three at the theater, and another at the labour ward are among those on home-based isolation.
The management also confirmed that no baby who has been exposed to COVID-19 has been reported, but three mothers have been exposed in the past two months.
Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) Health Director Josephine Kibaru assured members of the public that Pumwani has not closed and wouldn’t close due to the reported cases, but said the facility will scale down services.
“Due to shortage of staff because of the quarantine, we will have other nearest health facilities such as Ngara and Eastleigh assist in offering delivery services,” she said.
