3 in 10 Kenyan Patients Get Misdiagnosed, Leading to Death or Permanent Disability
KEY POINTS
Doctors should do no harm, that’s a no brainer. Coupled with the high costs of healthcare and unaffordable rates for medical suits, I don’t know what other additional incentive the hospitals, and the authorities need to stop the negligence and the cover-up.
In 2019, Kenya lost two of the most brilliant minds in the political space and corporate sphere due to cancer – Ken Okoth and Bob Collymore. The two incidences, although different, have a similarity; both had been initially misdiagnosed.
For more than a year, Ken OKoth presented symptoms of ulcers, and sometimes bacterial infections, which he was being treated for. He was even further put on drugs to manage stress, but during the whole process, Okoth was battling with severe abdominal pains and weight loss.
Bob Collymore, on the other hand, was misdiagnosed of having Vitamin D Deficiency in Kenya. It was not until he traveled abroad that he was correctly diagnosed with stage four Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
Sadly, in both cases, their cancer diagnosis was done when they had already reached stage 4. If they had been diagnosed properly, they’d have started their treatments early, and perhaps, they’d still be alive.
These two cases are just but a few of the many similar medical malpractices that have caused the deaths of so many people across the globe. One-third of malpractice cases that result in death or permanent disability come from a misdiagnosis or a delayed diagnosis.
In 2020, the Kenya National Union of Medical Laboratory Officers (KNUMLO) raised concern over the high levels of misdiagnosis of diseases in the country.
KNUMLO cited that three out of 10 patients in the country get the wrong diagnosis or treatment.
The union claimed that many Kenyans across the country are wrongly put on anti-tuberculosis and anti-retroviral drugs or had their ulcers misdiagnosed with H. Pylori.
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There are thousands of horror stories – of nurses, doctors, and other medical practitioners giving the wrong treatment, delaying, or failing to attend to their patients. Others harm their patients and then there are those who undertake life-changing procedures without consulting them.
Recently, the Kenyan Rapper King Kaka found himself knocking on death’s door aftera misdiagnosis, which rendered him 33 kilograms lighter.
His misdiagnosis led to a serious bodily reaction and his health deteriorated before he was eventually admitted. In a long Instagram post, the artist posted a picture of himself 2days after he was admitted. The picture was taken shortly after he’d undergone a procedure for a bone marrow sample.
The rapper noted that he was going through hell and that one day he will tell the whole story. This terrible ordeal isn’t far from what another artist, Jimmy Gait went through as well.
The gospel singer, in 2019, nearly lost his voice after a misdiagnosis at a local hospital following bouts of persistent throat pains.
Gait said in a YouTube video that if he hadn’t traveled to India to seek a second opinion. It was then that he learnt that the pain was due to high acidity, something that would’ve led to him developing stomach cancer.