GYN CHRONICLES
Covid-19
Dr. Maureen Owiti
Y
es I know this is not gynaecological
but how can one not speak about
Coronavirus at a time like this.
I’ve been very amused at all the jokes and
unfortunately, gynaes have been the butt
of many jokes about Covid-19. Some of
them include ‘Stay at home unless you
want to be intubated by a gynaecologist
or you want pneumonia to be treated by a
gynaecologist’. My retort is that we know
how to intubate and more importantly we
definitely know how to treat pneumonia.
Anyway back to matters at hand at the
time of writing this article on the 2nd of
April 2020, the status report on Covid-19
is that we have confirmed a total of three
deaths due to Coronavirus and total
number of positive cases stands at 110.
Brenda and Brian are fully recovered from
Coronavirus, getting phone calls and
press conferences about their experience.
I only thank God that Brenda sounds very
appreciative of the team who looked after
her at the Kenyatta National Hospital
IDU the frontline against Covid-19.
I was really amazed by acts of various
leaders in the community as showcased
by the reckless demeanor by the Deputy
Governor of Kilifi County as well as our
men in cloth, whom you would imagine
should have more sense in such times. You
can see the impunity of Kenyans, whether
it was just lack of knowledge on their
part or sheer recklessness, your guess is as
good as mine but to risk lives of Kenyans?
I hope they will be brought to account
when all this is over.
We fully understand the seriousness with
which most Kenyans, especially Western
Kenya, handles final rites and how
important it is to meet constituents and
political cronies, but people don’t realize
that with just this one act the ripple effect
is that thousands will be infected with the
virus.
We have been witnessing on social media
To protect our parents, and if blessed to
still have them around our grandparents,
kindly avoid visiting them. Organize such
that there should be no visitors who come
but ensure they receive supplies which
should be decontaminated prior to en-
tering their premises. It is a time where
staying away from your parents is actual-
ly now a sign of true love!
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and mainstream media how hard hit Italy
has been and the helplessness the leaders
feel in light of this pandemic. Agreed
that majority who will be infected will
suffer mild symptoms if at all but the
most vulnerable who include the elderly
and sick are more likely to suffer severe
respiratory complications and die from it.
As usual I love to start with the good
news: Majority of people who will
contract coronavirus will suffer no or mild
symptoms only. Interestingly children
appear not to be affected much in this
pandemic. It is being postulated that the
tuberculosis vaccine they receive is at its
maximum and somehow protective to
them. We thank God for his mercies and
it reminds me of the Sunday school song
“God loves the little children…” However
universal precautions still apply when
dealing with them and unfortunately even
though not common children are still
being affected.
Another set of good news is that expectant
women do not pass on the virus to their
unborn babies and their newborns. This
is very helpful but as these are vulnerable
segments of society maximum protection
is needed for them. Unfortunately,
pregnancy itself appears to be a risk factor
for developing severe complications.
Currently the measures China has put in
place have yielded fruit and we have seen
the closure of the last hospital specifically
built to fight the virus. There have been
many conspiracy theories with accusations
and counter accusations between China
and the United States of America about
where the virus originated from. I don’t