Busia will equip hospitals and deploy more medics, says Odera

Governor Paul Otuoma’s administration will strive to improve services in all county hospitals, Deputy Governor Arthur Odera has assured Busia residents.

He said on Thursday that the provision of quality health services is among the top priorities for Otuoma’s government.

Facilities with inadequate equipment, Odera said, will urgently be attended to.

More health workers will be sent to facilities with few staff.

Odera spoke to the press at Kocholya Level 4 Hospital in Teso North subcounty during a 6am impromptu visit to the health facility.

“I came here to see how patients are attended to, to see the kind of equipment that the hospital has and to find out the challenges health workers are facing,” he said.

“This is a level 4 hospital but the radiology department does not operate at night because it has no staff to work at that time. The lab is open although it has challenges that need to be addressed urgently, particularly the issue of equipment and inadequate staff.”

Odera said the county government will support health workers so they can attend to patients the way they are supposed to.

"We have a duty to support all hospitals by ensuring they get the required equipment and enough workers.”

Odera spoke a month after Otuoma promised to reform the health sector so Busia residents do not have to travel outside the devolved unit to seek treatment.

“Within my first 100 days, I will mobilise resources to ensure our hospitals have adequate drugs and non-pharmaceuticals. I will work on the facelift of lower-level health facilities to provide primary healthcare, to reduce referral cases to our county referral hospital,” Otuoma said during his swearing-in in Busia Stadium on August 25.

He said they will strengthen institutional and technical capacities for effective health services.

“We will work to improve access to quality healthcare services through investment in the infrastructure of Level 1 facilities. I will promote sustainable health financing through the inclusion of residents in NHIF," Otuoma promised.

EBOLA SURVEILLANCE

On Ebola, Odera said the county government is working closely with the national government to surveil the Kenyan borders. This followed the confirmation of an outbreak in Uganda.

“We are closely working with the national government, which has interventions that can be implemented in the country’s border points,” he said.

“Besides, we are educating the public so that everyone remains vigilant. We are calling upon everyone at the border to take advice from the national government and remain observant.”

Kenya has put health officials at the border on high alert after the World Health Organization said it was investigating a suspected case of Ebola in the DRC. Uganda has one confirmed case of the virus.

Edited by A.N