NATIONAL EMPOWERMENT NETWORK OF PLHAs IN KENYA (NEPHAK) DRAFT REPORT ON THE EVENTS AND FACTS AROUND THE 3 TB PATIENTS BEING HELD AT KAPSABET GK PRISON
1.0 Overview and Summary
This report summarizes the events and the facts so far established around the TB patients being held at the Kapsabet GK Prison. The National Empowerment Network of pepole living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK) has taken keen interest in this case both because of their national mandate as the voice of communities living with diseases in Kenya and also because of it being a collective body of people living with HIV and who are particulalrly vulnerable to Tuberculosis. This report which is still fairly in draft form and which does not contain all details of the three TB Patients has been compiled by NEPHAK staff with information gathered from a number sources but mainly from the visit to the Kapsabet GK Prison, Kapsabet District Hospial, and the community and families of the 3 TB Patients. It should be noted that during the visit discussons were also held with the 2 patients in the prison and the 1 at the District Hospital. After carefully revewing the events, circumstances and the facts of the case, NEPHAK finds this case unfortunate and attributes this to both the weakness of the health systems and the nearcollapse of the community support systems in the village where the 3 men were residing before their arrest. Invoking of Public Health Act to deal with the 3 TB defaulters is a desperate measure taken up by the provincial administration to deal with an equally desperate situation. Nevertheless, NEPHAK finds no justification for keeping the 3 patients in prison for 8 months for the pure reason “of ensuring treatment completion”. We therefore call for an urgent transfer of the 3 TB Patients from the Prison to a health facility where they can be managed and monitored.
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