Today, after breakfast in our hotel, we went to our first hospital, The Karen Hospital, a private hospital on the outskirts of Nairobi, in the Karen district. The district was named after a woman named Karen Blixen, who governed the region during colonial times. The hospital itself was founded only in 2006 by Dr. Betty Gikono and Dr. Dan Gikonyo, two cardiologists who, in their retirement, opened the hospital, originally as a cardiology clinic. Now, it is one of the most prominent hospitals in Nairobi. Karen Hospital has doctors in almost every field, as well as a wide variety of medical resources and devices.
We met with Dr Lance Mayabi, a general surgeon, and his two residents, Dr James Kariuki and Dr Matthew Bosire. We talked about Kenya, how surgeries are done here, some general points about healthcare in Kenya, and then we told him more details about our goal to do ethnographic research on the availability of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) so we could help improve access to it across the country.
We learned a lot from them, and, after a tour of the hospital, we had a nice meal with them, chapati, a Kenyan bread, and samosas, as well as a local milk tea, all were excellent!
We then went on to their medical training college next door, where we met the principle, Madame Eunice Bett, who showed us the skills lab, where surgical trainees trained on laparoscopy, and we talked a lot to Dr Matthew and Dr James about laparoscopic training, and saw one of their training devices, a box with a camera and holes to insert the tools into. We later went to their OR to see an endoscopic procedure done by Dr Mayabi. We then spent a long time talking to the surgeons about minimally invasive surgery casually, and learned many insights that helped us greatly in targeting our research.
We were done for the day at Karen after this. On the way back to the hotel, we went to a local grocery store to buy water, and then withdraw money from an ATM. Our drive back was very long, because there is considerable traffic in Nairobi between 4-6pm, which is when everyone gets off of work. After dinner in our hotel, we did some work to debrief on the day, and then headed off to bed. We could not have asked for a better first day of work here. The staff at The Karen Hospital were so nice and hospitable, and excited to host us. We met so many amazing people and made connections that will greatly benefit our project in the long run.