NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 8- Politicians were on Monday quick to Tweet flowery condolences messages as soon as they learnt of the death of Dr. Stephen Mogusu, who succumbed to COVID-19 disease.
Like many helpless Kenyans, they seemed to point fingers at shadows, on who is to blame and what should be done following the death of the young doctor.
Dr. Mogusu was only aged 28 years and at the time of his death, he had not earned a penny for 5 months.
He breathed his last just some 12 hours after Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Acting Secretary General Dr. Chibanzi Mwachonda appealed to Kenyans to contribute towards his ballooning health bill.
He was then fighting for his life at Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
And according to the union, the Machakos based doctor did not have an insurance cover, meaning his young family will not be compensated.
Machakos Governor Dr Alfred Mutua said “he was sad to learn the passing of” the young doctor in a thread on his official twitter handle.
He then revealed that Dr Mogusu had been attached to his county by the National Government “UHC programme and pay.”
“Improper that his, the National Government, had not paid him for months.”
Mutua, like all other governors, said doctors employed by his government were happy; they have the right protective gear, no salary arrears, receive allowances and they have an insurance cover.
He added, “as a fraternity it is sad, it is sad when we lose one of our own. For days we have been praying for him, communicating with his family and even offered free treatment for him.”
Free treatment? One would wonder, what was the fund appeal by KMPDU SG about then.
Mutua said “we honestly thought he would pull through.”
The comments that followed, some of them, were not kind as a section of ‘tweep’s accused him of being self-centered.
Like @njoguz tweeted the governor, “this is uncalled for and self-serving. Only reason the national government came in to help is because you were bound to fail as counties to manage COVID. Both level of government are collectively culpable for this callous treatment of people who put their lives in harm’s way to help.”
Deputy President William Ruto said Dr Mogusu was “a brilliant and selfless medic dedicated to deliver critical care and support to our country during this COVID-19 crisis.”
He said his death was a demonstration “that we must deploy all our energies and resources to protect and save our heroes at the frontline from this pandemic at this particular time. Kenyans too must be protected from this ravage.”
A scheduled strike by the doctors was pushed by two more weeks on Sunday night, to allow “further dialogue.”
On their part, clinical officers and nurses said they were tired of the empty rhetoric and downed their tools.
Kenya has lost more than 30 doctors since March while 9 clinical officers’ lives have been claimed by the disease.
Cumulatively, the disease has claimed more than 1,5000 lives in the country.
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