Kenya Medical Association has confirmed there was cholera outbreak at Ruto’s owned hotel, Weston Hotel.
In a statement, MA noted that laboratory tests indicated the victims had contracted cholera at the hotel.
“It has come to our attention that several participants at a conference hosted at Weston Hotel in Nairobi, including medical doctors and other health workers, have come down with food-borne disease suspected to be cholera. Rapid screening tests conducted on those afflicted were positive for cholera, and we await culture results to confirm the diagnosis.
We are however reasonably convinced that this is an outbreak of cholera, given the very low likelihood that a majority of the screening tests would be falsely positive.
We would like to note that diseases like cholera are markers of a broken health system, specifically a broken primary health care system.
We note further that primary health care falls squarely under the ambit of county governments under the devolved system of government, and express our great disappointment at the failure of these governments to strengthen this important area of health.
We urge county governments to focus more on the function envisaged for them by the Constitution of Kenya 2010- Primary Health Care.
Finally, we take great exception to the statements attributed to high level officials in the ministry of health, allegedly exonerating the hotel that was the clear nexus of this infection, and instead blaming the victims for bringing this affliction upon themselves.
We urge the national government to quickly engage its epidemic investigation mechanisms and get to the bottom of this and other recent outbreaks, and assure Kenyans of the continued enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health as is their constitutional right.
The lives of Kenyans, and Kenyan health workers should come before any other considerations.
We wish our colleagues and all those affected by this scourge a quick recovery and return to good health”.
The Minsitry of Health has, however, not confirmed the patients had contracted the disease at the hotel. We are waiting for an answer.
