Health care stakeholders in Kisumu have called for establishment of isolation centres for Tuberculosis (TB) patients who violated laws rather than holding them in prisons.
This was said on Friday during the launch of a pilot study by KELIN Foundation to evaluate the experiences of TB patients when accessing the services in five health facilities in Kisumu County.
The stakeholders at the launch questioned whether prison was the right isolated place for TB incarceration.
Dr Timothy Malika who is the Kisumu County TB, Leprosy and lung health coordinator said the isolation units were the best for TB patients and not prisons.
He said that holding a patient in the prison painted a picture of the patient being a criminal which will instead stigmatise them more.
"We had already started establishing some units in Kisumu, but it stalled following the financial issues that surrounded Kenya Medical Research Institute making the project stall," said Malika.
Dr Malika stated that the units would be better places to hold patients for two months and release them as they would not be able to infect others after the two months.
While releasing the study, KELIN Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation officer Edgar Makona said according to court documents and media reports, the two sections have in the past been used to unconstitutionally incarcerate TB patients for 'failure to adhere' to TB treatment.
He said the patients are arraigned in court and convicted for up to seven or eight months, or until the satisfactory completion of their TB treatment.
Most of the TB patients were also said to be pleading guilty since they do not have enough money to pay cash bail or bonds in court and can only opt for imprisonment.