A 40 foot container is the kind of thing you expect to see at a port or on the back of a trailer ferrying all manner of goods from one point to another. However, at Kirwara Health Centre, Muranga County, a similar 40 foot container brings with it a new lease of life for both patients and staff at the facility.
Every day, about 25 to 30 patients are attended to in a single room at the facility’s Comprehensive Care Centre (CCC). Manned by a clinical officer, nurse, two peer educators and a mentor mother, the CCC offers essential and often life saving services to those seeking care and treatment for HIV and Tuberculosis (TB).
Out of a cumulative total of 979 patients enrolled for services at the CCC, 738 are currently active on care with 582 of them on antiretroviral therapy (ART), 156 of them on Septrin and 22 patients accessing TB care and treatment services.
The current set up does not only hinder patient privacy, but also presents a major challenge to effective infection control, putting both patients and health facility staff at risk of infection by air borne diseases like TB.
With support from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), CHS has facilitated repairs to the CCC through the innovative use to a 40-foot container that has been partitioned into three spacious and well ventilated rooms: a data room, a consultation room and a pharmacy.
This set up will provide the much needed spatial separation and ventilation to enhance infection control as per World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and also enhance privacy. Flanking the repaired CCC is an equally spacious waiting bay large enough for use as a triage area and a space in which peer educators can engage in discussions with clients as they wait for services.
Speaking during the handover of the newly repaired CCC, CHS Chief Executive Officer Dr Paul Wekesa appreciated the commitment and support received from the facility staff led by the facility in charge, Dr Gikandi, facility board members, contractor and quality surveyor as well as CHS staff and reiterated the organisation’s commitment to supporting the facility.
