Patients at Nyeri County Referral Hospital are facing a setback after the Cuban nephrologist posted to the facility, Eisy Cabrera, left Kenya following a diagnosis of a brain tumour. The county confirmed her departure on Wednesday, 21 November 2018.
County health chief officer Newton Wambugu said Cabrera had spent one month under observation and treatment in Nairobi before returning to her country. He added that she had also made recommendations aimed at improving services at the hospital, and that the county intended to fold them into its strategic plans.
Wambugu said the county expected to have a replacement in place by the end of the year. In the meantime, dialysis at the renal unit is being handled by a doctor who stepped in after Cabrera left.
The hospital’s renal unit sees about 12 to 15 patients each day. The first two procedures cost Sh9,500 a week, while the third is priced at Sh3,000.
The departure comes at a time when access to kidney care remains limited in the central region. According to the report, the region has only one government-employed nephrologist, based in Thika, Kiambu County.
Statistics cited in the article show that Nyeri had 29 nephrologists and 260 nephrology nurses last year, covering kidney complications and dialysis services. Even so, the absence of a specialist at the hospital is likely to slow treatment for patients already dealing with kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.
Nyeri county is said to lead in the prevalence of non-communicable disease, with diabetes affecting 6.4 percent of the population. The World Diabetes Foundation puts Kenya’s diabetes prevalence at about 3.3 percent.
Hypertension is estimated to affect eight percent of the population, and both hypertension and diabetes are among the leading causes of permanent kidney damage, accounting for about two thirds of cases. The article also points to obesity, smoking and high cholesterol as major contributors to Nyeri’s burden of lifestyle diseases.
