Narok Hospital

While we were in Narok we took a boy who is sponsored by Kids in Kenya to the Hospital. Peter, the chief of Ole Keene, brought the boy into town because he had been sick for a while. The hospital, though, is not really a “hospital”. It seemed like something that you find a summer camp. There were outdoor seating areas running down the side of the building, which was their “waiting room”. Directly across from the seating area there were the patient rooms, which basically had a table, chair, and sink (if you were lucky) inside. There definitely were not any particular measures being taken to remain sanitary. We waited with about 20 or so other people all waiting to see the same doctor. Near us, there was a group of 15 women with babies waiting for checkups. They would call 5 or 6 mothers in together and I assume they were giving the babies inoculations, especially since I heard a bunch of crying!

It is a long process to be seen at the hospital. You must first wait in line to buy a patient card, which is basically like your health records. Then you give your card to the nurse who puts you in line to be seen by the doctor. Then, like all doctor’s offices, you wait, and wait, and wait. Finally they took the boy in to be seen by the doctor. We were then sent over to the pharmacy at the hospital to buy his prescription. At the pharmacy, we submit our prescription, are given a receipt, take the receipt and pay at a different window, then go back to get the prescription. Some of the prescriptions were not available at the hospital pharmacy so we had to the “chemist” in town for the rest. It seems like there are a lot of hoops to jump through in order to be treated.

It was hard to believe that this is one of the better hospitals in the area. I can see why people do not want to mess with coming to be treated. It takes so much effort and money to be seen by a doctor. Many people from the villages cannot afford to go to a bigger city for treatment. Jamey is working on a mobile Medical clinic for the villages in the Mara. I think this is a much-needed resource for this area. It is sad that there are not more mobile clinics set up here.

I am glad to see that the Kids in Kenya Fund is not only helping provide education for a child but they are taking care of the whole child – food, education, and health. We must first satisfy their basic needs before we can begin to educate them.