- He said as a society they are now introducing training for health workers who want to train as specialists in gynaecology.
- Odongo said that in Kenya there are slightly close to 6,000 new diagnosed cervical cancers cases every year, out of which around 2,500 people die.
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The Kenya Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society has said that there is a huge shortage of healthcare specialists in Kenya.
Kenya has only 500 obstetricians and gynaecologists against a population of over 48 million people.
The KOGS president Kireki Omanwa said there are some counties that do not have a single consultant obstetrician.
“Women are in dire need of specialists during delivery in those regions,” Omanwa said.
He said as a society they are now introducing training for health workers who want to train as specialists in gynaecology.
“We have three training centres that are Nairobi, Aga Khan and Moi universities where we train specialist doctors. We are working towards ensuring that the training is moved to county levels,” he said.
They are now in the process of checking out county hospitals which can offer training to doctors as they continue serving patients.
“This training will solve the shortage of specialist doctors in Kenya,” he said.
According to the World Health Organisation, the doctor-patient ratio is supposed to be 1 doctor for every 1,000 patients, but in Kenya the ratio is one doctor for 8,000.
“This is beyond the WHO standards. Therefore, Kenya has a huge gap for doctors and especially the specialised doctors,” he said.
Omanwa said the use of telemedicine in provision of health services in both rural and urban areas will help curb the shortage of specialists.
"Covid-19 pandemic taught us a lot, we have had a lot of opportunities especially during the pandemic where there was fear of patients coming in the hospital," Omanwa said.
"The were fears of doctors getting infected that is why we started using telemedicine where we can access patients through the internet."
Former society president Elly Odongo said they are also working to ensure that girls aged between 10 to 13 years get the cervical cancer vaccine.
“We are in support of WHO global strategy on elimination of cervical cancer, and by doing this we are in strategy talks about ensuring that 90 per cent of pre-adolescent girls are vaccinated and at least 70 per cent are screened."
Odongo said that in Kenya there are slightly close to 6,000 new diagnosed cervical cancers cases every year, out of which around 2,500 people die.
“We have empowered our referral hospitals to be able to manage cervical cancer. We have a whole continuum of care including diagnosis and follow up for those who need palliative care,” he said.
He said that the cervical cancer vaccination should be done before women have their first sexual encounter because it works better when the disease is prevented.
A single exposure of sexual contact is enough to get infected with Human Papilloma Virus.
He said that those who are active in sex can still get vaccinated because it prevents progression and also help in clearing the disease.
“With regards to super specialist in this case gynaecology oncologist, we have now expanded training for this group of specialists and we have modality of increasing human capacity,” he said.
He said they have collaborated with other international universities and international cancer gynaecology to offer best treatment for Kenyans.