Ninaomba serikali....!!

I woke up this morning feeling inspired to write. I usually think up things to write as I either drive to work or plan my day. Today was  no exception. I have been agonising on something witty or smart to write about. It is now past midday and the cloud hanging over my creativity shows no signs of dissipating. I will thus write on less fun more serious issues.
 I have intentionally neglected to state what I do for a living. I wanted my readers to build a mind picture of who they think I am. I wish I were a fly on the wall to hear what people think of me. Anyway today I unblind all of you to my identity.
 I am a medical doctor who has specialized in public health  and HIV/AIDS. I work with low social economic female sex workers.
  A few weeks ago the media reported how one retired clergy man in Tanzania, named Amblikimu Mwasapile, had recieved devine inspiration on a concotion thet was curing all medical ailments. Babu, as he prefers to be known as was offering the concotion to anyone that had the stamina to get to his humble remote aborde.
 Needless to say there has been steady streem, ok thats incorrect, there has been a deludge of people making the trecherous journey to the place called Loliondo to parteke of the drink. Amoung the people going there are a good number of the clientelle that patronise my clinic. One cup of the said concotion is said to clear even the stubborn HIV.
 It is all very well to offer people hope in what seems like a hopeless situation, but I take exception to the commercial exploitation of peoples desperation. Before taking the drink, an individaul pays a modest fee. The fee is intentionally kept low to entice even the poorest of the poor to make the journey to Babu's house on the hill.After taking the drink one is instantly cure of all medical ailments and is required to immidietly stop all other medications he/she is on.
 There in lies my real fight with Babu. In the last week alone I have recieved no less than three people that have come from Loliondo and have stopped taking their anti-retro viral drugs. All and I mean all hve been retested and all are still very HIV positive.  If the trend is anything to go by this senario is being repeated in many comprehensive care clinics in Kenya. So in the next few months to a year we will have a new wave of HIV positive patients who have virus that has developed resistance to the available ARV's. What this means is that they will have to be put on what we call 2nd line medication. This is a line of drugs that are less frequently availlable in Kenya and are much more expensive to import. So there is the very real risk of patients missing out on life saving medication. I rerely subscribe to the doctrine of 'tunaomba serikali.." but this once I am appleaing to the powers that be curtail the activies of Babu. It will cost you some public relations fiasco now but will be much more expensive to the entire country in future. I will attacha few pictures of the infamous loliondo hill.