Senior medical officials and journalists were yesterday kicked out of the Siaya county referral hospital where they had converged for an update of the status of Covid 19 vaccination in the county.
Siaya County Coordinator for Immunization Services Joshua Ondiege and journalists from Royal Media Service, Kenya News Agency and Weekly Citizen were unceremoniously hounded out of the public facility by the medical superintendent Dr Aliech Adoyo who accused them of intruding into his office without following protocol.
This came despite the media team speaking earlier to the County Executive Committee member for Health, Dismas Wakla over the phone and making arrangements for the briefing.
Wakla, who told the media that he was on his way to the airport, referred the journalists to Ondiege. Some members of the media team had earlier joined the queue for the Covid-19 jab as they were waiting for the coordinator.
Trouble for the journalists started when they went to the Medical Superintendent’s office to inquire about Ondiege’s office.
The secretary directed them to an office whose occupant referred them back to the Medical Superintendent’s office where, after explaining their mission again, they were ushered into an office to wait.
After a two-hour wait, the scribes went back to find out what could be happening and also seek permission to shoot a video footage of a queue of the residents who had turned up for vaccination as they waited for Ondiege whose office, apparently is housed outside the hospital compound.
On entering the medic’s office and introducing themselves and the mission, the indifferent Dr. Adoyo ordered the journalists out, saying that they ought to know the protocol to follow.
Attempts by the journalists to inform convince him that they had not breached any protocol and had even been in communication with the county minister for health and other officials fell on deaf ears, as he retorted that he had nothing to do with the media.
“What is the CEC health?” he posed adding “In any case, he is just a lawyer and should have advised you on the protocol to follow before coming here”.
As he was dismissing the media, a team sent by the CEC Health to brief the journalists arrived and, tongue tied, sought to know what was amiss.
Instead of an answer, they were also ordered out of the compound, with a warning not to talk to carry their business anywhere in the vicinity of the hospital.
The officials, who were equally taken aback, led the journalists out to the department of health and sanitation offices where they briefed them on the status of Covid 19 in the county.
Ondiege said that the number of residents has increased at all the 17 vaccination centres across the county and expressed hope that they would be able to beat the target.
The coordinator said Siaya had so far managed to vaccinate 56,000 people from March 2021 to date out of a target of 115,000 by December.
He said that several strategies, among them increasing the number of vaccination points by opening 40 more sites, have been put in place to ensure that they get the remaining 59, 000 people that is required to hit the December deadline.