By Arnold Ageta
Alex Otwoma, a person living with a disability from Manga Sub County, Nyamira County, is seen waiting in a queue at Manga Subcounty Hospital for a free eye checkup, along with many other patients seeking free medical services.
Alex comes from a humble background and hasn’t been able to afford medication for the past six months since being diagnosed with eye problems.
He was wearing sunglasses instead of the prescribed spectacles to manage his eye problems.
Dressed in a white stripped shirt, necktie, white gloves and white trousers, Alex was happy to receive the free services and was seen moving with his crutches from one service desk to another.
“I came here because of the eye problems I was diagnosed with. For a long time, I have not had the medication that was prescribed to me due to financial challenges,” said Alex.
Alex had visited Nyanchwa Eye Hospital where he was treated and released. He was supposed to buy glasses, but he could not afford them at the time.
“I could not raise the amount they asked for the glasses. With the current financial crisis I am in, I can not afford them,” he explained with pain. “But I am happy today that I have been examined and promised glasses. I am so happy.”
Excited by the excellent services he received, Alex was glad he had come to the free medical camp organized by the Clive Foundation.
The Clive Foundation, which is running a two-day medical camp in Kitutu Masaba Subcounty, provided patients with specialized medical consultations.
Born, raised, and schooled in Kitutu Masaba, Clive Ogwora, the founder of the Clive Foundation, says it is the main partner of this program, offering free medical services.
“The reason I thought of this medical camp is basically to give back to my community. I was born and raised here. I know the challenges my people are facing,” he explained. “We have come together as a team. We looked for partners, and we are providing the services the doctors have indicated here.”
Unlike typical medical camps, Clive Foundation’s camp is unique. It has incorporated a follow-up plan to track and monitor the patients they attend to.
“Regarding the follow-up plan, the reason we have decided to ensure this does not happen just once is that the program we are running allows us to follow up on these patients here,” he clarified.
He added that if they have chronic diseases, they can see what they can do after a month or so and assist the patients with their medical expenses and challenges they face on medical grounds.
“On the issue of follow-ups, we have agreed with the involved partners that we will do drug refills and monitoring of these patients. Afterward, we intend to visit them and see how they are progressing,” he promised.
The medical camp incorporated services from the county government of Nyamira, Equity Afya, Advanced Cancer Centre, Nyamira Referral Hospital, and Manga Subcounty Hospital.
Dr. Onsongo Boniface, a Medical Officer from Equity Afya who attended the medical camp, said their goal at the camp was to raise awareness about lifestyle diseases.
“Our main focus for today is to create awareness on chronic diseases. We are offering screenings for blood sugar, cervical cancer, breast cancer, high blood pressure, basic lab tests, and free doctor consultations,” said Dr. Onsongo. “We also offer specialist services regarding cancer, courtesy of Advanced Cancer Centre.”
He emphasized the benefit of primary healthcare, which deals with disease prevention.
“We are educating them on the importance of disease prevention: exercise, good eating habits, and the benefits of drinking water. We are teaching people what they can do to prevent diseases,” he added.
Dr. Mokaya Onsase, his counterpart from Stable Health Foundation who is also a registrar at the Kenyatta National Hospital, said the medical camp in Manga is a noble cause.
“Unlike other medical camps, our key focus on this medical camp is what is called the social determinants of health, with the principle that it is useless to treat you for a disease and then discharge you to an environment that predisposes you to the disease,” he emphasized.
Apart from that, he said they have a well-channeled system of referral for cases they are unable to handle on-site. They refer them to Nyamira County Referral Hospital or other hospitals with the help of ambulances from the County and Clive Foundation.
“Unlike other medical camps, here we not only give you medication but we will give you health education and close follow-ups with patients with chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and many more diseases that a cross-sectional view from this camp will have given us,” he said. “Then, at the end of this, we will do a post-mortem meeting to see those
Like Alex Otwoma, Robert Matunda, a resident of Manga, is also happy for the Clive Foundation’s free medical camp in Manga.
“The foundation has come to assist people with various diseases, and we ask them to plan for more medical camps to help those who are at home and unable to go to hospitals because they lack money,” he said.
He notes that those who have come to the medical camp are just a few and urges them to collaborate with other foundations to help the people of Kitutu Masaba.
“I came here feeling bad. My eyes nowadays have vision problems. My back has a problem too. I am happy that I have been examined and given drugs,” he added.
