FILE PHOTO | NMG
On June 10, 2020, the Ministry of Health launched protocols for home-based isolation and care for Covid-19 positive cases.
The 22-page booklet dubbed “Home Based Isolation and Care Guidelines for Patients with Covid-19” was developed by the Ministry of Health in conjunction with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council, the Kenya Health Professionals Oversight Authority, the World Health Organisation and other stakeholders in the health sector.
Further, some health facilities like the Kenyatta National Hospital isolation unit in Mbagathi and Kenyatta University Teaching Referral and Research Hospitals are already overstretched and cannot cope with the ever-increasing number of Covid-19 positive patients.
The Kenya medical Practitioners and Dentists Council, which serves as the National Co-ordination Centre for Isolation and Quarantine Facilities, headed by Dr. Eva Njenga, is working closely with the Council of Governors and respective county governments to ensure that the above directive is realized.
The home-based protocols mean that these people can be managed at home provided proper laid down procedures are followed, paving way for the release of a majority of patients being held in isolation facilities, thereby decongesting health facilities.
