October 3rd, 2009

Somalis Flooding into Kenya - and Kijabe!

From time to time you hear me mention the increasing number of Somali patients being treated at Kijabe Hospital. The numbers continue to increase, putting tremendous pressure on both inpatient and outpatient services. We have a few fluent Somali-speakers on staff, and we do try to treat our Somali patients with the same kindness, courtesy and sincerity of care as with all our other patients - perhaps something that they don't often experience in Somalia.

We have become quite well-known among the large Somali enclave in Nairobi, and routinely receive referrals from the UNHCR-administered refugee camp in Dadaab. This camp has over 280,000 refugees and the numbers continue to grow. For more information about the flood of Somali refugees streaming into Kenya, click here.

Many of the Somalis living in Nairobi are reasonably fluent in English, and when they come to Kijabe Hospital they help to interpret for others who have come from Dadaab or even from Mogadishu and who speak neither English nor Swahili. Also, the large number of Somali patients makes the hospital even more hospitable for other Somalis needing health care, as they feel less isolated when surrounded with so many others who share their same culture.

Sometimes, however, some Somali patients carry their hostilities with them into Kenya. We had an episode some time back where both the chaplains and Security were called to separate two new Somali mothers on the Maternity ward who tried to reactivate a "little Mogadishu" between them!

As the numbers of Somalis pouring into Kenya continue to swell, the demand for services to Somali patients at Kijabe Hospital is likely to continue to increase. I don't know how much longer the hospital can continue absorbing ever-increasing numbers. This week the hospital has had to cancel all scheduled elective surgeries until further notice because there are simply no more beds available for anything that is not urgent. We even had patients admitted from our Casualty Department unable to leave Casualty because there was literally no available bed on any of the wards. Some admitted patients waited in Casualty longer than 24 hours before a bed became available, and the ward doctors were having to come to Casualty to complete their ward rounds!

Please pray for the dire and deteriorating situation in Somalia, for the innocent victims caught in the middle, for the refugees flooding into Kenya, and for Kijabe Hospital's compassionate Christian ministry to those who come here for care. Pray also for wisdom in knowing how to stretch our limited physical capacity in the face of ever-increasing demand for services.