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    • Why trainee doctors in Kenya are committing suicide
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    Why trainee doctors in Kenya are committing suicide

    Pabio Posted on

    Francis Njuki

    Where did this photo come from? Kiambu County Health Services Department

    • Author, Wycliffe Muia
    • Role, BBC News, Nairobi

    Pipo got sober in a village in Kenya’s Rift Valley last week, as many medical interns followed a colleague who committed suicide.

    The family of 29-year-old trainee pharmacist Francis Njuki told the BBC that he feels tired and frustrated and has not given me anything from my salary since he started working as a trainee in August.

    He is the fifth doctor who has not committed suicide for Kenya in the last two months due to “difficulties related to work stress and lack of proper insurance coverage”, which is why Dr Davji Atellah is the Secretary of the Kenya Doctors and Dentists Union (KMPDU). ) say, I say no, be somewhere with whom joinbodi don eva see bifor.

    Medical agencies said they had not had five suicide attempts by KMPDU members this year.

    Figures are never available on those not committing suicide nationwide this year in Kenya.

    Njuki bin was interning at a public hospital in the town of Thiaka, near the capital Nairobi, when I took my life last month.

    My uncle Tirus Njuki tells the BBC that I’m having hallucinations and depression, but I say I don’t sleep in beta.

    My uncle added, “For my suicide note, I have to say that the four-month delay in salary is part of what aggravates my mental illness and makes me commit suicide.”

    As the first born in my family, the police report states that the intern struggles with depression and is already receiving treatment.

    Njuki, among the hundreds of trainees who visit health facilities in August, puts them through a mandatory one-year training course to qualify.

    But the interns say they will not receive their salaries for the first four months when they say it is financial problems that are causing them.

    This is the case even though interns make up a significant part of the public hospital workforce and many Kenyans are unable to afford private medical insurance.

    Trainees represent around 30% of doctors in the public health sector.

    They do most of the work for public hospitals, but under close supervision.

    They are on call sometimes for 36 hours and provide most of the health services patients need.

    KMPDU said: “Like many of my colleagues, Dr Njuki bin faces a difficult challenge just to fetch money for bills like rent and utilities.”

    The government is waging a long battle with the unions over the salaries and working conditions of interns.

    Kenya Doctors on strike

    Where did this photo come from? AFP

    The government wants to reduce the monthly salary of interns to $540 from $1,600, which unions agree with the government for 2017.

    But President William Ruto said the government was unable to pay the money and “we have to live within our means”, he said in early April.

    But following pressure and threats of strike, the government released $7.4 million last month to pay the 1,200 interns who have not received their salaries since August.

    Some interns say the money they collect is “peanuts.”

    Dr Abdi Adow, who is an intern at Mbagathi Hospital in Nairobi, told the BBC: “After six to seven years of study, we will wait months for an internship. And after all these long hours of work, we decide to say that they are going to give us peanuts. We are really suffering.”

    Dr Adow is one of many young doctors who think they need to find work abroad or abandon their profession for a job that will pay them more money.

    The Anoda intern does not want us to mention his name, so they do not face a problem and tell the BBC: “I do not swear that I will at least save lives and restore health to the maximum, but They are doing their best to kill my morale.”

    Sabi pipo is not using Dr Timothy Riungu last month as an example of how stressful working conditions for doctors are.

    I am a pediatrician at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, we are collapsing and dying for home after this, and we are working 24 hours a day with my supervisor who says he is not going that day, according to local Tori Pipo .

    My family says diabetic, 35 years old, and will never take leave for two years.

    The autopsy indicates that Dr. Riungu died of hypoglycemia when blood sugar levels fell below normal. I also show that I don’t chop anything for 48 hours before dying.

    In May, Kenya was expected to reach an agreement with a medical union to end a 56-day strike, but interns’ salaries were never settled.

    The strike stops work in public hospitals and causes dozens of patients to die.

    The salaries and working conditions of interns are not up to par.

    Last week, KMPDU intern doctors ordered them to stay home as they announced a 21-day nationwide strike notice, saying the government was going against the agreement to may.

    Dr Desree Moraa Obwogi

    Where did this photo come from? KMPDU

    What we call dis photo, Dr Desree’s family members say Goment must take responsibility for her death

    In September, a 27-year-old female medical intern at Gatundu Level 5 Hospital in central Kiambu County committed suicide.

    Dr Desree Moraa Obwogi fails to complete her 36-hour shift, which her colleagues say is affecting her mental health.

    They say she, too, is struggling to pay rent and utilities.

    KMPDI Internship Liaison Committee member Dr Muinde Nthusi says money and toxic work environment are to blame for his death.

    Tori Pipo’s local report says that for her burial, family members say Goment must take responsibility for her death.

    Among the recent cases of suicide that the KMPDU notes: Vincent Bosire Nyambunde, intern at the Kisii teaching and referral hospital; Collins Kiprop Kosgei, a fifth-year medical student at the University of Nairobi and Keith Makori, a 30-year-old doctor from Kiambu central county.

    Young doctors are ginger for

    Dr. Kipkoech Cheruiyot’s message for Platform

    Health officials did not request comment from the BBC,

    But in September, Health Minister Deborah Barasa responded to the rise in suicide cases, saying: “a reminder of the struggles that many, including pipo, in health work, face.”

    Minister Bin announced plans to introduce “workplace mental wellness” programs for healthcare workers across the country to “ensure that support systems are stronger and that they “don’t feel like they are alone in the face of challenges.”

    Doctor sabi pipo says many young doctors also face “moral injuries” or trauma, as they feel guilty and say they are not doing enough to treat patients, even if they do their best in difficult conditions.

    Dr Chibanzi Mwachonda, a psychiatrist, told the Kenya Standard Newspaper: “I thought you were supposed to do something to save a patient’s life, but you are not able to lead to guilt, shame and to helplessness which could add to mental health problems.

    Trainee doctors tell the BBC that most medical schools are not up to the suicide torch, well they are letting new and tired doctors who don’t know how to deal with traumatic ordeals and their poor pay go to join the mata.

    A trainee said: “A healthy doctor builds health problems. If I am stressed or depressed as a doctor, I will forget how to resuscitate a patient that could cause them to die. An unmotivated doctor is a dangerous man to serve you. They turn to the ungrateful. job.”

    The Kenya Bureau of Statistics says about 1,400 Kenyans commit suicide every year.

    Suicides remain a crime in Kenya, with a penalty of two years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.

    The law is not widely criticized because rights groups say they must say they are not asking for help.

    Dr. Adow says, “How many doctors do we have to bury to act as a doctor.”

    Pabio
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