Kitui residents will from next year not be treated in dingy clinics manned by quacks or be detained for failing to pay medical bills, Governor Charity Ngilu has pledged.
She on Tuesday said not only will she increase the drugs purchase budget from the current Sh250 million to Sh500 million, but there will be a health insurance cover for everyone in the county.
The governor said residents will no longer be turned away from hospitals over lack of drugs.
Ngilu said every household will pay Sh1,000 for insurance and each family member will get a card for medical cover.
“I feel terrible when I find people queuing here waiting for me to assist them because their people have been detained in some roadside dispensaries manned by quacks. Henceforth, people will get best quality healthcare,” she said.
The governor spoke outside her office when she received two consignment of assorted drugs worth Sh100 million from the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority.
Ngilu dispatched the medicine to health facilities across the county.
She said she is aware that quality healthcare cannot be provided by medics without adequate drugs in hospitals.
The governor said she is working on a homegrown solution to have Kitui striking nurses' return to work.
Ngilu said she has been talking to nurses in a move to have them return to work.
“I have already had a meeting with nurses and agreed we will have a domestic arrangement so that we can agree on how they go back to work,” she said.