The Council of Governors has said the total of ICU beds available in all counties are 162 while 22 counties do not have ICU facilities.
In a statement on Wednesday on county preparation to handle coronavirus patients, the CoG chairman Wycliffe Oparanya said the government should chip in and help the 22 counties to set up its ICU facilities.
“There are 161 ventilators in the county ICUs. We need support from the national government to acquire approximately 300 more ventilators,” Oparanya said.
Oparanya said the government has agreed to support counties in recruiting 6656 health workers in different cadres for emergency response.
He said county governments are still grappling to acquire enough personal protective equipment.
By March 20, Kemsa had distributed 694 surgical masks to counties, 32,000 face masks, 910 pieces of medical disposal overalls, 735 face shields, 610 goggles, and 769 boxes of examination gloves.
Also, counties received 140 pairs of gumboots and 2000 pieces of N95 masks. Oparanya said only 167 sets of complete personal protective equipment were fully distributed to counties.
The county governments have also raised concern over testing center for the virus, which is currently being done by Kemri and the National Influenza laboratory.
“This in itself is a great risk for the country should the disease spread rapidly in many counties at the same time as it is projected in the coming weeks,” Oparanya said.
Governors have agreed to identify isolation centers in their counties including boarding schools.
The council has also asked the government to reduce electricity tariffs for all medical facilities in counties for the next three months.
