• Patients would travel by road for days to access crucial medical services such as dialysis.
• The dialysis centre opened its doors to the public on January 9 this year.
Image: /STEPHEN ASTARIKO
Before devolution, the health sector in Mandera was a mess. Residents struggled to get proper healthcare at the local facilities.
Few could afford to go to private hospitals. Patients would travel by road for days to access crucial medical services such as dialysis. Some travelled 1,200km to Nairobi.
It was pain and suffering for the majority who are poor. But in the last six years of devolution, there has been a total transformation in the key sector.
On Tuesday, Governor Ali Roba launched the dialysis unit – the first in the area.
The dialysis centre, however, opened its doors to the public on January 9 this year.
The Mandera County Referral Hospital (MCRH) dialysis unit is a fully fledged department with five state-of-the-art beds, dialysis machines and other advanced equipment’s including defibrillators, ventilators, monitors and others.
The dialysis machines and equipment for Mandera hospital were first delivered in 2015 under the Managed Equipment Service (MES) programme, but due to the lack of skilled manpower, it was not in use for almost four years.
This was after the Mandera government sponsored a multidisciplinary group of healthcare workers to undergo dialysis training at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
Since then, five more renal nurses have completed further training in nephrology.
Resident Abdi Mohamed told the Star that the dialysis unit is a true reflection of how devolution is improving healthcare in the counties.
“Our county was one of those that were greatly marginalised by successive governments. I want to thank the county leadership for properly utilising the resources that are allocated to our county, even though small,” he said. Hassan is a resident of Rhamu subcounty in Mandera North.
Asha Mohamed urged the health department to go beyond just offering dialysis and offer a comprehensive range of services to assist patients.
“They should think of including counselling, dialysis diet counselling, rehabilitation and disease management plans,” she said.
A document seen by the Star shows since the dialysis unit opened doors for the public, 17 patients have been served.
Health executive Dr Mohamed Eda said of the 17 patients – 12 were male and five females. Thirteen of them needed emergency dialysis services.
The county has also made great strides in reducing maternal mortality rate by employing skilled birth attendants.
The new maternal health shelter at the Mandera County Referral Hospital has greatly helped to lower maternal mortality – once the highest in Kenya.
Eda said the facility has assisted more than 3,000 mothers since 2014.
The maternal mortality rate was 488 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2008 – well above the Millennium Development Goals target of 147 deaths per 100,000 births.
In 2013, before devolution, the rate in Mandera was 3,795 per 100,000 live births. By 2018 it had improved to 500 per 100,000 live births.
Eda said the county has also increased the number of health workers from 150 before devolution to 950 today.
On Tuesday, Roba also flagged off of six new ambulance services, which he said will further go a long way in improving the emergency response.
He has also encouraged residents to ensure enrol for NHIF as a way of helping them meet treatment costs.
“We all know how families with members having renal diseases undergo a lot of challenges and costs to access dialysis. This disease requires a lot of financial resources to manage and that I have always urged residents to register for the NHIF,” Roba said.