'Save Yourselves': Kenyan Doctor Pens Heartbreaking Message to Colleagues Before Dying of Covid-19

The death of Dr. Stephen Mogusu who succumbed to Covid-19 on Monday has sparked outrage among Kenyans.

The 28-year-old passed on while undergoing treatment at Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral, and Research Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) claimed the deceased had not received a salary for five months and did not have a medical cover.

A heartbreaking message Dr. Mogusu allegedly penned to his colleagues before he took his last breath has emerged. 

Mogusu, who worked at a government hospital in Machakos County where he contracted the virus, urged medics to save themselves as the government does not care about their lives.

"My dear colleagues, let me take this opportunity to admonish you today to get your pay or get out while you still can with your health intact.”

"I have had the Covid-19 ARDS for 5 days tonight and I will say not even a full pocket can replenish what has been lost on high oxygen flows, all manner of masks and begging for one more gasp of air," he wrote.

"Usually I'd write and write but today I just want to say save your miserable selves from those institutions, you'll live to earn again. I am not in any way inviting arguments or response to my post, I'm too weak to type anymore. Save yourselves," he added.

His death came a day after the doctors’ union suspended the planned strike for 14 days to pave the way for dialogue.

The strike had been called to protest the government’s failure to addresses the medics’ concerns about safety, health insurance, and lack of adequate personal protective gear.