Kisumu Hospital Becomes Region's First to Implant Epilepsy Stimulator Devices

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH), a Level Six public referral hospital in Kisumu, has implanted Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) devices in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, meaning seizures that anti-seizure medicines have failed to control.

According to a report by HealthCare Middle East & Africa published on 9 September 2026, the procedures mark the first time VNS devices have been implanted anywhere in this part of the continent.

A New Option When Medicine Isn't Enough

Epilepsy is a brain condition that causes repeated seizures.

Most patients manage it with medication, but for some, no combination of drugs stops the seizures.

Until now, those patients in this region had few options beyond travelling abroad, often to countries like India or South Africa, for specialised surgical treatment.

The devices were implanted by neurosurgeons Dr William Owiti and Dr Carrie Muh, as part of a September neurosurgical camp run jointly by the Kisumu Neuroscience Initiative and JOOTRH.

The camp brings visiting and local specialists together to carry out complex brain and spine procedures that the hospital could not otherwise offer regularly.

How The Device Works

A vagus nerve stimulator is a small device placed under the skin, usually in the chest, similar in size and placement to a heart pacemaker.\

It is connected by a thin wire to the vagus nerve in the neck, one of the nerves that carries signals between the brain and the body.

Once switched on, the device sends regular mild electrical pulses along this nerve, which helps calm the abnormal electrical activity in the brain that triggers seizures.

VNS does not cure epilepsy.

It is used alongside medication, not instead of it, and is generally offered to patients who are not good candidates for the surgery that removes the exact part of the brain causing seizures.

The device used at JOOTRH was supported by LivaNova, the company that manufactures it.

Why This Matters For Kenya

Specialised procedures like VNS implantation require neurosurgeons trained in the technique, imaging equipment, and long-term follow-up to adjust the device's settings after surgery.

Few hospitals in East, Central or Western Africa have offered it, which has meant patients with severe, drug-resistant epilepsy either went untreated or had to raise money to travel outside the region.

By bringing the procedure to Kisumu, JOOTRH adds to a hospital that has already carried out hundreds of brain and spine surgeries through its ongoing partnership with the Kisumu Neuroscience Initiative.

The hospital's push to expand what it can treat locally is part of a broader pattern across Kenyan public hospitals seeking Level Six referral status, which requires offering advanced, specialist-level care.

What Comes Next,

The report on the procedures did not include how the patients who received the implants are responding, since VNS typically takes weeks to months of adjustment before its full effect on seizures becomes clear.

Broader research on VNS in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy has generally found it reduces seizure frequency in many, though not all, patients, but individual results vary and it is not effective for everyone.

For now, the milestone at JOOTRH represents an added treatment pathway, not a guaranteed fix, for a group of patients who have often had few paths left to try.