Kenyan journalist, Yvonne Aoll, has narrated how lack of specialists in the country led to her dealing with gallstone pancreatitis for 4 years. Her pain was only alleviated when she moved to Melbourne, Australia.
According to the journalist, she had visited countless doctors in the country all in vain. Aoll lamented that other than the financial burden, she was also mentally exhausted by the continuous disappointment.
“Mentally exhausted, physically worn out and financially wiped out, eventually I resigned myself to a life pain. This was until I moved to a new country and had an acute episode at work,” Aoll explained.
The journalist was surprised that the enigma that puzzled doctors for four years starting 2018 was solved in just 40 minutes. Her laboratory results were out and she was scheduled for surgery.Â
“I can’t believe you saw several gastroenterology surgeons before. They should have caught this. This is a life-threatening condition. You did not need to suffer this long. You have been in unbearable pain for too long,” said the doctor who discovered the issue.
In the midst of the unending blood tests, MRI scans and ultrasounds, Aoll recalled one diagnosis from a doctor in Eldoret. Accompanied by four of her relatives, she received the news that she had brucellosis – a bacterial infection from animals.
After consulting another doctor in Nairobi, the doctor admitted that such a diagnosis is made when the root of the problem is unknown. Some medical practitioners deliberately misdiagnose so that patients can stop asking questions.
Aoll expressed discontent with the increasing misdiagnosis from various reputable medical facilities in Kenya. She added that a misdiagnosis could lead one to getting unnecessary procedures and surgeries which, in the worst scenarios, could lead to death.
“When the excruciating pain strikes, it’s sudden, it’s sharp and it burns as it radiates from the upper, right side of the abdomen to the lower back to the entire right, vertical side of the back, where it stays for never than one hour,” Aoll recounted.
A medical expert, Karan Gandhi, Kenya’s only hepatobiliary surgeon, noted that the life-threatening diseases associated with the liver, pancreas and bile duct go undetected.
Gandhi highlighted that hepatobiliary diseases can be caused by viral infections of the liver, diabetes and high cholesterol. Alcohol was also noted as a contributing factor.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE
