Residents of Lamu’s Manda Island decry suffering due to poor health services

The residents of the remote island of Manda in Lamu County have decried the lack of a health facility in the area.

The residents are forced to cross over to Lamu’s main island to get medical services at the King Fahad County Referral Hospital as the dispensary within Manda lacks crucial drugs and personnel.

Manda is home to over 2,000 people, most of them stone miners and farmers who settled on the island from other parts of Lamu and Kenya in the 1980s.

The islanders have urged the county government to build more well-equipped dispensaries in the area to relieve them of the suffering they always experience during times of emergencies.

They also pleaded with the county government to deploy enough health workers, including doctors and nurses, to cater for the high number of patients in need of hospital services in the area.

One of the residents, Samuel Otieno, stressed that the absence of proper medical centres and health workers has subjected the locals to a great deal of suffering.

Otieno, a resident of Manda-Maweni village, noted that the only dispensary in the area is at Manda Airport, which is about 11 kilometres away.

“We need a dispensary here at Manda-Maweni. The Manda Airport dispensary is way too far from here and at the same time, it is poorly equipped,” said Otieno.

A mother and her children on Manda Island in Lamu County. (Photo: Farhiya Hussein)

Travel by boat

Dama Kahonzi, who is seven months pregnant, said she has been forced to miss some crucial clinical services since they are not available at the Manda dispensary.

Kahonzi said for her to access such services, she is forced to travel by boat across the vast Indian Ocean to Lamu Island’s King Fahad Hospital.

“We always spend not less than Sh1,000 to access services at the King Fahad main hospital in Lamu town. We don’t have clinical services within Manda. I hope something will be done to address this issue,” said Kahonzi.

Ben Ojuok, a community activist from Manda, said it was disheartening that the entire Manda Island community comprising about 2000 people has been forced to depend on only one poorly equipped health facility situated near Manda Airport.

“Our women and children here suffer the most as they seek hospital services. It would be better if the county government would build more health centres. They should also bring doctors and enough nurses here. They should also train and deploy community health workers to this place,” said Ojuok.

Enosh Muluya, another resident, said it would be better if the county government would build a maternity wing in the area to stop maternal deaths arising from birth complications.

A view of Manda Island in Lamu County. (Photo: Farhiya Hussein)

Build maternity hospital

“Most of us are poor and can’t afford to hire a boat to take our expectant mothers and wives to the Lamu King Fahad Hospital which is located on the other side of this vast island. For you to hire a boat to rush your patient to the hospital, you need more than Sh2,000 to and from. Where can we get such an amount? We are asking our governor, Issa Timamy, to come to our rescue and make speedy arrangements for a maternity hospital here,” said Muluya.

One of the county health officials, who declined to be named since he is not authorised to speak to the press, said they have made efforts to ensure all the dispensaries across Lamu County, including the Manda one, are built as per the required standards.

He said all the Lamu dispensaries have delivery rooms for pregnant mothers.

On the issue of drugs and the personnel, he insisted that the Manda facility was constructed and completed a long time ago and that services are being provided.

“We have delivery rooms in our dispensaries, including at Manda Airport, where basic maternal services are carried out. We’re making more efforts to improve the same,” he said.