The Nakuru County Government in collaboration with the Kenya Association of Pediatric Surgeons is holding a pediatric surgical camp in Nakuru. The camp which is the first of its kind in Nakuru is being held at the Nakuru Level Six Hospital (PGH).
The camp brings together pediatric surgeons from the Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral Hospital and the University of Nairobi. Other surgeons are from Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Coast General Hospital and students from Ghana and Ethiopia.
The Medical Superintendent in charge at PGH Dr Aisha Maina says the camp was aimed at improving the quality of services, education and collaboration. In addition, the camp is meant to improve pediatric surgery access and expertise within Nakuru and beyond.
“This is a unique global model of surgical partnership that deals with the volume of patients needing surgery and provides opportunities for learning and capacity building by experts,” said Dr Aisha.
According to the chairperson of the Kenya Association of Pediatric Surgeons Dr Joel Lessan, Kenya has only 25 qualified pediatric surgeons. This creates a huge skill set gap against the need. Two newly qualified pediatric surgeons have been posted to Nakuru PGH.
During the four-day camp, the surgeons look into operating on 35 patients per day. To achieve this, the doctors are operating on four theatre beds concurrently. This will clear the backlog of patients experienced at Nakuru, Nairobi and other referral facilities with long waiting lists.
“We have booked a lot of patients here at PGH and we target to operate on 35 patients per day on average. Our target is minors aged between 0 to 15 years,” says Dr Faith Bob, head of Pediatrics at the Nakuru County Referral and Teaching Hospital.
The team is composed of 25 doctors and will deal with cases like hernia repair, hypospadias, and undescended testes among other complex cases. The camp is also ongoing at the Nakuru Specialist Hospital.