A suspected Malaria outbreak in the Kargi location of the Loiyangalani sub-county of Marsabit County has killed nine people in the last two weeks.
The deaths, also connected to the non-accessibility of Marsabit County Referral Hospital owing to the bad state of roads in the area, have claimed a child, five men, and three women.
According to KNA, the Senior assistant chief for the Kargi sub-location Moses Galory noted more than 60 other cases of residents nursing their illnesses at home.
Further, he said that the bad road network in the area has worsened the situation, as referral cases to the county referral hospital could not be executed because the Karagi-Marsabit road is impassable.
“We lost a patient after a vehicle that was taking him to Marsabit got stuck mid-way owing to this poor road,” he said.
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Moreover, he said that the road requires urgent attention to ease transportation.
Shortages of drugs and rapid test kits at the local health centre have also been blamed for the deteriorating health state in the area, with the county government’s health department making efforts to secure some drug reserves at the Moyale sub-county hospital and other facilities across the county.
Through the USAID-funded Nawiri programme, the Catholic Diocese of Marsabit is assisting in ferrying the consignments and medical personnel to the area.
The assistant chief appealed to the residents to show up for tests at the health centre now that testing kits and medicine have been available and to stop treating the sick with herbs.
According to medics at the health centre, the deaths of victims ranging in age from 1 to 70 years could have been complicated by other factors like Kalazar, as victims exhibited symptoms akin to the disease.
The sick and those claimed by the disease had liver and spleen complications, and their eyes turned yellow.
Residents appealed to the government to urgently address the situation by providing drugs and an ambulance and improving road conditions to stem more deaths.
