Ninety Army Reservist Medics have experienced a two-week adventure of a lifetime, deployed to remote areas of northern Kenya.
Beyond Zero charity and Captain Ellie Harrison from 202 MMR give free health care to locals. This is the women’s mobile health clinic.
Locals speak to a doctor as part of triage in Sereolipi.
Medics take a break from treating patients in Lokusero and enjoy interacting with a local child who had just been vaccinated.
Captain John Greensmith helps to conduct an initial triage at Lokusero.
Staff Sergeant Gilbert interacts with Cristina Lesimalele after receiving treatment at Sereolipi.
Jane Wangwi and family wait to be seen as Kenyan Defence Force medics and 202 MMR set up free healthcare services in Sereolipi.
Kenyan Defence Force medics and 202 MMR prepare to provide free healthcare services in Sereolip.
Lekupanai Ntasekuwa is sat with her child Roina. Kenyan Defence Force and 202 MMR medics provide free healthcare services in Sereolipi.
Medics from 202 MMR provide free medical care along with Beyond Zero charity and the Kenyan Defence Force to locals in Nosorai.
Birmingham based 202 Multi-Role Medical Regiment (202 MMR), a reservist medical unit, has taken part in Exercise Haraka Serpent. This exercise is humanitarian focussed, and operated by the British Army in support of the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the country’s Defence Forces.
The exercise delivered medical care to isolated tribal communities in Kenya's Laikipia and Samburu counties.
The name of the exercise is derived from the Swahili (Kenya’s native language) for quick or rapid. Serpent refers to the staff of Aesculapius which ancient Greeks associated with healing. This staff is used on signs, badges and medical insignia around the world.
The exercise also worked with the charity ‘Beyond Zero’ established by the former First Lady of Kenya, Margaret Kenyatta. The charity aims to reduce preventable maternal and child deaths and cut mother to child transmission of HIV throughout the country. 202 MMR brought many specialists with them. These included midwives, paediatricians, neo-natal practitioners, and other medical professionals. Most work for the NHS in their civilian jobs.
As well as the women’s health care specialists, A&E nurses and others provided a more general primary health care service. The local community arrive in large numbers wherever the clinics are set up.
The expense and vast distances, covered on foot, combine to make it almost impossible for locals in these regions to receive aid when they need it. The result is a minor injury or ailment going untreated until it develops into a life threatening, if not a life taking, situation.
Many of the patients had walked for miles and some for days, to reach the clinics knowing this was a rare opportunity to have a medical specialist examine them or their babies.
After a two-and-a-half-hour journey, the teams unloaded their trucks and set up the clinic. They were ready to see patients that painted a colourful display, with many of the tribes in full traditional dress. These included the Samburu people with beaded multi-colour headdresses and the Turkana tribe wearing the high collars with many carrying infants in decorative shawls around their shoulders.
This has been a collaborative effort, locally driven and I think we have made a difference here. It is something I‘m proud of the Army for achieving.
Paediatric nurse Captain Bradley Setchell, alongside his Kenyan counterpart, tended to dozens of children. These presented with problems ranging from breathing difficulties to suspected cases of malaria.
Bradley said, “This has been a collaborative effort, locally driven and I think we have made a difference here. It is something I‘m proud of the Army for achieving.”
He added, “Obviously paediatrics is always an emotional speciality, just by its nature, and there are a lot of children and young people here.”
Bradley’s words were brought into sharp focus when a young mother arrived at the medical tent where patients are first assessed clutching a severely underweight four-month-old baby in a critical condition. The team diagnosed the child with a serious infection, breathing problems and a high fever of over 40 degrees. The baby’s life was on the line.
Rehema Lekalau, a Kenyan Health Ministry child nurse, and Bradley responded instantly with antibiotics given through a drip, and paracetamol. This saved the baby’s life.
The statistics for the numbers treated revealed the impact of the care being delivered. During the exercise period, nine days were devoted to providing outreach clinical care to several communities. In one day alone at Laresoro, a remote location north of the town of Archer’s Post, the team treated 312 patients, 165 of these were under the age of 12.
202 MMR’s Operations Team, led by Major Rob Mathews and Major Tracey Hoines, organised the planning and execution of the exercise.
Major Mathews said: “We were tasked with deploying to Kenya to engage with the counties of Laikipia and Samburu as both these regions are where the British Army conducts its training. We started the planning back in January, and it was based on meeting the requirements for each county and what we could afford with our budget.”
The introduction of Kenyan born Major Christine Duffy as the Clinical Engagement Officer proved very helpful. Her in-depth knowledge of the differing cultures and command of Swahili went a long way to solve many problems.
The regiment faced other challenges. They had to train reserve soldiers for hot, difficult conditions with temperatures over 35°C. The team had to train for the prospect of facing many hours on the road, and often no road, with rough roads over rocky terrain. Now 202 MMR have completed this demanding exercise, they can feel proud of their achievements and with it the knowledge that, if called on to deploy on overseas operations, they now have the skills and experience to do so.
This exercise highlights the reason why many of our Reservists joined the military and that is to travel, to experience different cultures and to be challenged clinically.
Summing up, Major Rob Mathews said, “This exercise highlights the reason why many of our Reservists joined the military and that is to travel, to experience different cultures and to be challenged clinically as well as in their supporting and leadership roles in an environment that is unique to Africa.”
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