Del Monte launches a six-bed isolation facility

Murang’ and Kiambu based fruits processor – Del Monte Kenya Limited has launched a 6-bed isolation centre to manage employees and mitigate spread of the deadly virus.

The isolation centre will be used as a holding facility before the suspected patients are referred to government health facilities in either Murangá or Kiambu Counties for further treatment.

The centre that is equipped with relevant medical equipment and Covid-19 protective gears has been divided into three rooms of males, females and a reporting office.
 
The facility is part of the company’s additional precautionary measures implemented to maintain a safe, healthy, and secure work environment for its 6,500 direct employees and their dependents and assist in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 within the communities in which it operates.
 
Over 2,500 of the total direct employees live within the company’s premises.
 
The holding facility will be managed by Del Monte Kenya’s Medical Department that has been trained on Coronavirus clinical management by the Ministry of Health.
 
Speaking while launching the facility, the company’s Managing Director – Stergios Gkaliamoutsas said the facility was set up following a recommendation from the National COVID – 19 Emergency Response Committee and the Ministry of Health that private entities set aside isolation areas in the wake of increased number of cases in the country.
 
“We have placed a lot of emphasis for the health and well-being of our employees and the community that live within our plantation. This is one of the many measures we have taken to isolate any person suspected to be positive for the virus. It is aimed to spread the spread of the virus within the locality under which we operate,” Gkaliamoutsas said.
 
The MD insisted that the need for the isolation room was based on the fact that multinational company has a large population of employees with a big percentage staying within its housing estates.
 
“We thought it was important for us to set up a holding area to isolate suspected workers to keep them away from their uninfected colleagues and family and consequently control the spread of the virus,” he added.
 
As Coronavirus continues to spread across the country, with reports emerging that government-designated hospitals are getting overwhelmed with patients, the new facility is likely to be used as a treatment center as well.
 
While inspecting conformity of the centre to the Ministry of Health standards, Gatanga Sub County officer in charge of medical services Florence Kagwaine revealed Murang’a County has so far recorded 10 positive cases.
 
Five among the patients were treated at Mbagathi and Kenya University Referral Hospitals as the county sought to make proper arrangements to handle the patients locally.
 
She said two among the positive patients are still admitted at Murang’a district hospital while three recovered successfully at Kaharo isolation centre and were discharged.
 
“This pandemic does not discriminate whether one is in public or working privately. We should all join hands and fight this deadly disease together,” she said.
 
Besides the isolation centre, the fruit processing company has also formed a COVID-19 Crisis Management Response team.
 
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Kenya, the company has implemented several other steps to counter the spread of the virus in its facilities, including the provision of handwash stations sufficiently supplied with water, soap and hand sanitizers to ensure all employees hygiene.
 
Implementing social distancing in workstations and employee transport, provision of infrared thermometers to check temperatures on all visitors and employees, sensitization of employees and their dependents on the preventive measures for COVID 19 and fumigation of factory offices and employee housing units are among other preventive measures the company has been undertaking.