Major scams occur in times of crises - The Star, Kenya

But this new coronavirus (SARS-2 which causes the disease Covid -19) is only just getting started. What the government has prepared for is actually the easier (and far cheaper) part of the emergency response. Restrictions on movement and isolation wards are intended to delay and to reduce the spread of the infection. This does make a huge difference but is not enough on its own.

What are we to expect then?

To quote from an analysis in the Associated Press, “For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, and those with mild illness recover in about two weeks. But severe illness including pneumonia can occur, especially in the elderly and people with existing health problems...”

So public health policy in this pandemic should properly focus not just on delaying (and potentially stopping) the spread of the infection. It should equally focus on preparing to treat those who if they get the infection will end up being severely ill.

With the coronavirus, this severe illness generally manifests itself as ‘Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome’ (SARS) which is basically a collapse of the lungs, and the entire breathing mechanism. The only way to keep alive, a person so afflicted, is with a ventilator – that bedside machine that effectively breathes for the patient, which you must have seen in TV medical dramas.

So here is the question: What plans are there for ensuring that there will be a rapid scaling up of the total number of ventilators available in public hospitals, all over the country?

For in the absence of ventilators and related equipment, the coronavirus can be a death sentence for elderly Kenyans as well as those with certain “pre-existing conditions” – of which we have very many.

It is at precisely such occasions of great public crisis that the Kenyan cartels usually make their biggest profits, through the supply of wildly overpriced equipment – if not outright theft.

But it would be nice if just this once – and in light of the magnitude of this crisis – the money intended for the purchase of such emergency equipment was not stolen, but rather used to save lives.

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"occur" - Google News
March 19, 2020 at 08:01AM
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Major scams occur in times of crises - The Star, Kenya
"occur" - Google News
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