The Land of the Walking Dead: Why You Might Be Dying Without Knowing What is Killing You

How many times have you ever walked into a public or private hospital, told a doctor how you are feeling, and without carrying out any tests, he or she prescribes some medicine to you?

How many times have you walked to your doctor, complained of a headache and the first thing they prescribe to you are some painkillers?

How many times have you walked into a public hospital, complained of a headache, joint pains and the first thing that the doctors suggest is malaria?

How many times have you walked into a chemist, described how you are feeling and the chemist attendant fishes out some medicine for you?

Truth is, Kenyans have so much trust and “faith” in doctors such that they rarely question their judgment.

For most Kenyans, a doctor is a god whose decision on what medication to take or what you are suffering from is final.

There is a small joke that Kenyans trust doctors so much that even if a doctor gave them a grain of maize, and told them that it is a painkiller, they will take it and be well.

To many Kenyans, the above statement is just a joke but to me, is the saddest reality that is happening across the country.

Are you sick and in a hospital? Do you know that you might be being treated on something you are not suffering from as the “real sickness” eats you unnoticed?

I am not trying to scare anyone but the rate at which doctors in Kenya are misdiagnosing patients is alarming. Sadly, many cases go unreported because they are never detected with some of the affected dying without knowing what really killed them.

Cases of disease misdiagnoses are high in public hospitals. Because of the high number of patients seeking medication in public facilities, medics often have little time to carry out deeper analyses of what might be ailing the patient. Some just rely on what the patient tells them about how they feel to determine the illness and prescribe medication for them.

The country is still mourning the death of the CEO of Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore. Bob Collymore succumbed to Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

What many Kenyans don’t know is that Bob was at first misdiagnosed with suffering from the case of Vitamin D deficiency at a hospital in Nairobi. He had to fly out of the country before really getting to know what was ailing him.

What this sadly means is that, if Bob remained and believed in the first diagnosis, he would have died without knowing what killed him. That was Bob. Thank God he had what it took in terms of finances to fly him out to know what was ailing him.

How many Kenyans out there who are unwell, being treated but not from what they are suffering from?

Personal Experience

In November 2018, I started having some terrible headache that lasted for weeks. I visited a certain nearest hospital and I was given painkillers.

As the headache persisted, I was advised to visit another hospital in Eastleigh (Nairobi). Blood tests were carried plus a CT Scan. After the scan, the doctor suggested that I needed surgery.

Another friend advised that I seek the opinion of another doctor from another hospital. I went to Gurunanak (Pangani), blood tests were carried out and a CT Scan too.

The results came out negative. It later emerged that I was having a condition known as migraine, a common problem that comes with a severe headache. A strong painkiller was prescribed (Betapain) which I took and boom, the pain was gone.

The Case of Brucellosis

In April 2017, researchers at Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) as well as six other international institutions, called on a test that had been used to test for brucellosis to be withdrawn.

In 2012, 75,256 cases of brucellosis were reported after being tested by public hospitals around the country. It was later found out that only one percent of the reported cases might have been infected. This meant that 99 percent of those who were being treated for

For example, in 2012 some 75,256 cases of brucellosis were reported to the Kenya Health Information System, but going by the new study only about one percent of these patients may have been infected.

Commonly Misdiagnosed Diseases

Among the most commonly misdiagnosed disease is cancer. Thousands of Kenyans are losing their lives because of cancer without knowing that it is cancer they are suffering from.

“The moment you visit a hospital and you are told that you are not suffering from any disease when in real sense you are suffering from something, chances are higher that there is a misdiagnosis,” said a medical practitioner from Nairobi and who did not want to be mentioned.

Truth is, it is not easy for many types of cancer to show and many people, especially in the rural areas, die thinking that they had been bewitched when in the real sense, the illness failed to be recognized during tests.

Many diseases have symptoms close to malaria. Many people end up taking medication for malaria because of the symptoms while suffering from something totally different.

Diagnosing TB and common cold is a challenge. Many people treat TB as a common cold and only realizing when it is too late.

Something needs to be done.