This archive report was first published on 5 August 2020.
Family in Agony as 32-Year-Old Nurse Dies of COVID-19 ¶
Marianne Awuor, a 32-year-old nurse from Homa Bay County, has died of COVID-19, two weeks after giving birth to her first child. Her husband, Stephen Okal Oketch, said the marriage was short-lived, lasting exactly seven months.
Awuor was born on July 24, the same date as that of her firstborn child's birth. She was a theatre nurse for almost a year and had worked at Rachuonyo hospital since 2014. Her boss, Dr. Stephen Okello, described her as a passionate and dedicated nurse who loved her job.
Awuor contracted the coronavirus at 33 weeks of pregnancy and gave birth normally. She was found infected on July 20 and had symptoms including difficulty breathing, a cough, and chills. Despite testing negative three times, her condition worsened, and she was moved to Kisii County Teaching and Referral Hospital due to a lack of specialists in her home county.
Her husband claimed that medics at the hospital neglected her, leaving her unattended in an abandoned ward. He also accused the hospital of not informing them of her transfer from the ICU to the COVID-19 isolation facility. The hospital's County Health executive, Sarah Omache, denied the reports of neglect.
Awuor's death has exposed deficiencies in county hospitals when it comes to handling COVID-19 patients. The National Nurses Association of Kenya (NNAK) claimed that the patient had not been reviewed by any specialist since her admission at KTRH, yet she needed intensive care.
Health workers in Homa Bay downed their tools, accusing the county of exposing them to the virus by failing to hire specialists for the ICU and other departments. The Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun) asked the county to provide nurses with enough personal protective equipment (PPEs) to minimize their chances of getting infected.
