GYN CHRONICLES
Intrigues In Medicine
Dr . Maureen Owiti
I have been racking my brains trying to come up with a topic and quite honestly this has been the most challenging thing yet and as usual the topic has come to me : Intrigues in Medicine . As I write I have been appalled at the treatment of one of my colleagues , the newly appointed CEO of Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital , Dr . Emma Mutio . This young doctor has just stepped into office less than one month and has been greeted with the dread of every Kenyan - she has been arrested and put behind bars for a crime that I ’ m quite sure she had no hand in .
The story involves a child trafficking syndicate . In as much as I cannot vouch for her predecessor I do not have the luxury of knowing them , I have the pleasure of knowing Dr . Mutio in both a professional and personal capacity and find it very difficult to believe that a lady of her stature would be involved in anything of this nature . What is very surprising is how authorities are quick to arrest someone who has just newly stepped into office and clearly has no clue of what is happening let alone be the main suspect in this child trafficking syndicate .
I do not support child trafficking and I hope the true perpetrators of this heinous act are arrested and brought to justice . This story came to light through the BBC Africa Eye baby stealers expose .
Fortunately by time of completing this article I got the fantastic news that Dr . Mutio had been released together with the hospital administrator and are not considered suspects in the case anymore . However her arrest should never have happened in the first place especially if they did not have concrete evidence .
Don ’ t get me wrong but this is precisely the reason many fantastic doctors do not want to attend to administrative duties . This of course is the more bizarre case and I hope this does not occur so frequently but after reading such a story which level headed doctor will step up to the plate and take a leadership role in that hospital ? Majority of doctors would rather stay away from administration than be part of
It may not be a financially sound strategy but to insurance companies and NHIF , note that dead people cannot pay premiums so it is actually in the interest of everyone to ensure that the healthcare costs are able to be met so that people can survive this pandemic to be able to pay your premiums going forward . it and some of the reasons include episodes like this of Dr . Mutio and fear of being unnecessarily caught up in all the intrigues surrounding medical procurement as can be seen in the KEMSA Covid-19 Millionaires saga .
That is just one aspect but more serious currently is the rate at which doctors are dying . Let ’ s give a moment of silence to commemorate the lives of our fallen frontline workers . Recent days have in particular been very cruel to the medical profession : We lost more than six doctors in one week and what is even sadder is that some non-doctors were asking didn ’ t doctors die before corona .
It is sad how some people see no value in health workers . Yes , doctors died before corona and doctors will die just like every mortal there is . The reason this pandemic is unique is that by virtue of their call for duty some doctors will contract the deadly coronavirus and even more unfortunate is that a number have lost their lives and even more will become heroes by joining their departed colleagues .
I was in a consultation with a patient and somehow we drifted into the conversation on death and how prepared we as medics are to depart this place we call home . The unfortunate reality is most of us are not in any way prepared for that transition and I hope the current situation prompts us to have a more meaningful relationship with our Maker .
The sad state is that we do not know where our frontline workers have contracted Covid-19 but the hard reality on the ground is that there are very limited
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