About five boys have lost their lives, and 28 others are currently hospitalized in various health centers in Elgeyo Marakwet county following problems with the circumcision procedure.
Officials reported that the hospitalized boys showed symptoms ranging from bacterial infections to signs of pneumonia.
Michael Kibiwot, the Chief Health Officer of the county, mentioned that one of the admitted boys has been transferred to the intensive care unit.
Health centers in the county have experienced an increase in circumcisions admission, including those from neighboring counties, who are mainly presenting severe cases of pneumonia during the ongoing circumcision season.
The affected group, having undergone circumcision, were undergoing a healing process when they fell ill, suspected to be due to a bacterial infection.
“We have admitted 28 circumcised boys who were recently circumcised, and they have come to our hospitals with severe Pneumonia, Septicemia among others,” he said.
“It is sad that so far we have lost five and as we speak we have one patient in the ICU.”
Addressing journalists in Iten, Kibiwott said one of the circumcised women was admitted to the Iten County Referral Hospital in the intensive care unit, adding that one girl who had been circumcised was also admitted bleeding profusely.
He denounced the exercise, associating it with horror and the environment where the circumcision took place. He asked the parents instead to send their sons to the hospital for the exercise.
He said together with other organizations they have given advice to chiefs and ward executives to visit the camps and ensure that the founders are taken care of.
