<p></p><p><img src="/nairobi/PublishingImages/J%20Kwamboka%20Body%20Image.jpg" alt="" style="margin: 5px;"/>
</p><p>A resident of the Tassia area in Embakasi – Nairobi and born in December 1979, Jackline is a single mother of two girls aged 25 years and 23 years and a boy aged 14 years. The family depends on her meagre salary as a salonist.</p><p>Jackline is a two-time beneficiary of the AKUH patient welfare programme. The first was a cardiac surgery operation to correct a damaged heart valve in September 2022 and a mechanical thrombectomy procedure to remove a blood clot in her brain conducted in May 2024.</p><p>Her heart issues started when she was young but were not severe and her parents did not take her to hospital. Its until August 2019 that her condition got worse with increased tiredness, weakness, chest pain and wheezing. She was admitted in Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in December 2019. Tests conducted showed that she had a damaged heart valve that needed to be replaced through an open-heart surgery.</p><p>She was booked for the surgery and put in the waiting list which was way too long. According to KNH, the surgery would be covered fully by the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) Covid-19 hit and all surgeries were postponed indefinitely and she had to wait for longer until May 2022 when she was rebooked again but not given a definite date but was never called.</p><p>Luckily at the time, AKUH was partnering with public hospitals to support needy patients in need of specialised care and Jackline's details were forwarded to AKUH as a case that needed immediate medical attention. She was contacted by AKUH for assessment, approved for Welfare support and surgery scheduled the following week.</p><p>The open heart surgery lasted 9 hours and thereafter admitted for 1 week and then discharged. She's no longer weak, she has regained her appetite, no chest pain, no gassy stomach and has even added weight. At discharge she weighed 54kgs but she is now 75 kgs two years after the successful surgery.</p><p>In May 2024 when public hospital doctors were on strike, Jackline suffered a stroke while at work. She was rushed to the nearby clinic. Even before getting to the door, she could not feel her entire right side and fell at the clinic entrance.</p><p>Within a short while, she could not speak. The attending doctor knew her and upon assessment told her that her case needed specialised care in a hospital with the capacity to manage stroke. Public hospitals were out of the question given that the doctors were on strike. After consulting her daughter, they only had one hospital in mind having been attended there before, AKUH.</p><p>On arrival at the accident and emergency, an initial assessment was done and confirmed to be a stroke. They couldn't raise the money required to start her treatment. However, being an emergency that required immediate attention, doctors decided to proceed with care and sort out the financial issues later. All this while, she could hear but could not speak. An MRI was done and since 5 hours had passed since the symptoms started, Dr Edwin Mogere, Consultant Neurosurgeon advised the patient needed to be operated on before 8 hours were over meaning they only had three hours left to remove the clot. The patient was wheeled into the theatre at 4 pm and a mechanical thrombectomy procedure was conducted to remove the clot. Jackline woke up at 10 pm in the ward.
</p><p>Later she was identified as a previous beneficiary of Patient Welfare and costs were fully covered by the hospital. She appreciates the support she has received from AKUH.
</p>
