Kenya’s healthcare system is bleeding and something must be done urgently to fix the challenges that continue hurt the health of citizens.
Devolution — a crucial governance mechanism that is expected to provide affordable, quality and accessible healthcare in the counties —is in an unbelievable mess and requires urgent review.
The national government, which is in charge of all referral hospitals, is grappling with the same challenges.
The national government, the counties and key stakeholders must go back to the drawing board and come up with a radical policy shift that to improve delivery and management of healthcare.
The appalling mess in public hospitals means the ordinary citizen has nowhere to turn. Private health facilities are unjustifiably expensive.
The Universal Health Care for national rollout soon will not meet citizens' expectations if the rot is not fixed.
UHC is dogged by many challenges that must be addressed before it is unveiled. At the centre of the problems are human resource management and availability of skilled manpower
Maternal and infant mortality rates are still high, with most mothers lacking safe maternity wards.
Very few health facilities in the countryside are well equipped to respond to maternity needs.
More intervention strategies must be put in place to reverse the negative trends and avoid deaths of young mothers.
Health facilities are usually understaffed, ill-equipped and offer limited services, including emergency care.
Counties and the national government as well have refused to effect timely staff promotions. Some have been stagnating in certain cadres for a long time.
Some counties and even referral facilities refuse to release doctors and other health workers for studies. Morale is low.
Quality is often compromised where necessary equipment is unavailable resulting in misdiagnosis.
This must alarm both national and county authorities.
In this century, the chances of losing life are high due to poor diagnosis and lack of doctors to make certain critical decisions, especially in times of emergency. This is an area that must be addressed urgently.
The National Deputy Secretary for the Clinical Officers Union Spoke to the Star
