By Lenah Bosibori
Nairobi, Kenya: Lengo medical clinic, which is located at the heart of one of the largest slums in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi is the only private health facility that has been providing maternity and general health services since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The medical facility that is sandwiched between Nairobi’s Mukuru Kayaba and Fuata Nyayo slums, has been serving more than 50 pregnant women who seek antenatal care services on a daily basis.
“This facility has been of great help and a rescue center for low-income communities. Before its launch, pregnant mothers used to lose their lives due to too much bleeding while giving birth at home,” said Kennedy Kipchumba, the facility’s owner.
Since April 2020, the facility has been helping pregnant mothers to deliver at a minimum rate of 1000 shillings(about 9.08 dollars) while the ones enrolled in the public health insurance scheme would deliver for free.
The health facility has also benefitted from subsidies anchored in a maternal health promotion project supported by Kenyan First Lady Margaret Kenyatta.
“I started this facility in 2007 during Kenya’s post-election violence, luckily during the tribal clashes, my facility was the one offering medical services to the injured, that is how I survived the clashes, “said Kipchumba.
He said that birth complications used to be very high due to many women delivering at home adding that three traditional mid-wives often came to the aid of mothers experiencing labour.
Kipchumba said that Lengo facility is now a registered health center with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board (KMPDB) but operates on a social enterprise model.
“My passion is to provide medical services to the community; I do not have any donor funding to support my work, I will be very glad if I get one,” said Kipchumba.
I have seen long queues during this COVID-19 period, many of the patients can not even afford the face masks, sometimes I have to beg them so that they can put on masks as we treat them,” he added.
Kipchumba regretted those slum residents have the wrong perception that he is wealthy and many have been flocking his clinics to solicit monetary help.
“The perception that I am financially endowed has even placed my security in jeopardy. There is a time when a group of young men accosted me asking for financial assistance and I had to oblige,” said Kipchumba.
He decried the presence of cartels that often extort money from business entities within Mukuru slums under the guise of delivering critical services like water and electricity.
“One has to bribe the people offering water and electricity services, the main challenge being electricity because it comes directly from the transformer where it is not being controlled, many of my machines have burnt down due to faulty connections,” said Kipchumba.
He said that he was looking for funds so that he can install a solar system that can be controlled.
“Right now, I have six beds for maternity services and one delivery bed, at the onset of the pandemic coupled with a strike by medics in Nairobi, my facility used to receive up to 10 maternity cases at a go, some could end up delivering in the waiting room,” said Kipchumba.
Margaret kwamboka who just delivered at the facility said that she was impressed by the antenatal care she received.
“Lengo is the best facility I know around this area, it is cheap and the services are good despite it being located in the middle of a slum,” said Kwamboka.
She said that quality services offered at Lengo medical facility motivated her to visit there twice during the delivery of her young offspring.
At the moment Kipchumba has provided 14 job opportunities to communities residing in Nairobi’s Mukuru slums.
“I have 14 staff who interchange shifts because my facility is a 24-hour business,” said Kipchumba.
He said the government relies on him to provide data because he provides services to a huge population drawn from three informal settlements.
“I have the best data for the government at the moment, that is why every patient’s details should be written down for statistics purposes,” said Kipchumba.
He said that he was looking for partners who can inject additional capital to help expand Lengo medical clinic and ensure it becomes a prized destination for pregnant mothers in search of safe deliveries within Nairobi and beyond.
