• Kenya had recorded 79,322 cases by Wednesday, according to Health CS Mutahi Kagwe.
• Maina said national and county governments should pump resources to mass production of facemasks and hand sanitiser.
Image: FILE
Nyeri Senator Ephraim Maina has urged national and county governments to immediately suspend infrastructural projects and direct resources to the war on Coronavirus.
He said on Thursday that the spread of Covid-19 has reached an alarming level that requires extraordinary measures to tame.
In an interview with the Star, Maina said national and county governments should pump resources to mass production of facemasks and hand sanitiser. This should then be distributed freely to every citizen.
"Health should be the number one priority to ensure survival. That is why the counties and the national government must take this pandemic seriously, suspend these infrastructure projects and redirect resources to the health sector,” he said.
Kenya had recorded 79,322 cases by Wednesday, according to Health CS Mutahi Kagwe. The cumulative tests stood at 855,403. Some 1,417 patients had also died of the disease.
Currently, more than 1,100 patients are hospitalised across the country. Another 7,100-plus patients are in the home-based care programme.
To counter the rising cases, Maina said the focus should be shifted to the local manufacturing of masks and sanitiser through financial boost from the government and county governments.
He urged politicians, religious leaders and civil society groups to join hands in the fight against the virus. Maina also called on the government to hear the cry of doctors and other frontline health workers, who have threatened to strike, and meet their demands.
"The cry of the doctors is the cry of many Kenyans. Whatever it takes, the doctors and all medical staff must be provided with enough protective gear; they must operate in a protected environment," he said.
He said the government should also consider giving them incentives.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union issued a 21-day strike notice on November 15, demanding the provision of comprehensive medical cover for all doctors irrespective of whether they work in public or private health facilities.
They also told the state to provide standard and adequate personal protective equipment to all healthcare workers in all facilities, including private hospitals.
A day later, Kagwe announced that he had instructed the National Hospital Insurance Fund to conclude negotiations for comprehensive group lives, last expense, enhanced work and injury benefits and accident cover for Covid-19 for healthcare workers.
But speaking in Nairobi on Tuesday, the union dismissed the offer by the CS, noting that what was unveiled does not address the concerns they raised. The strike is set to commence on December 6 unless the government addresses their concerns.
"A strike should be avoided at all costs. Systems must be put in place to motivate doctors,” Maina said.
The senator called on the NHIF to start paying for Covid-19 expenses in government hospitals.
Edited by F'Orieny