• CS Kagwe said there is a capacity to hold 1,000 patients in ICU – numbers which many have cast doubts on.
• CS on Sunday made called on Nyumba Kumi officials to map villages to look for potential areas to isolate the sick including schools.
Image: NDICHU WAINAINA
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s UHC plan is facing a tough test amid concerns the country lacks the capacity to handle mass coronavirus cases.
With warnings that Kenya should prepare for mass infections, anxiety creeps in on whether the country’s health system will suffice.
Doctors unions, citizen action groups and other oversight bodies have over the years decried the neglect of public health facilities.
Many have criticised the political class for preferring to fly out for medical attention at the expense of boosting local capacity.
In a desperate call, the Health ministry admits there will be no place to put the sick should there be thousands of Covid-19 cases.
Kenya has 518 Intensive Care Unit beds at the private and public health facilities - of which about 85 per cent are occupied.
Nairobi has 247 beds, Uasin Gishu (55), 36 in Mombasa, 21 in Kisumu, 19 in Nakuru, 19 in Kiambu, and 14 in Nyeri.
There are no such facilities in Elgeyo Marakwet, Kitui, Laikipia, Marsabit, Migori, Nyandarua and Turkana counties.
Kirinyaga, Kisii, Kericho, Kwale, Machakos, Makueni, and Murang'a counties have between four and nine beds.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe, however, said there is a capacity to hold 1,000 patients in ICU – numbers which many have cast doubts on.
There are few ventilators with the importation of additional pieces equally slowed by the crisis. The World Bank donated some 250 ventilators.
In the face of the dismal investments in the health infrastructure, Kagwe admits there would be a problem. The CS on Sunday made a clarion call to Nyumba Kumi officials to map villages to look for potential areas where patients can be isolated.
The ministry has asked the business and religious communities as well as the private sector to identify schools and hangars for use as hospitals.
He warned of a monumental crisis, taking a cue from the big economies such as the United Kingdom, Italy and the United States which are struggling with mass infections.
“Let us think ahead together. Let us ask ourselves realistically that if UK and Italy have been overrun and US complaining of facilities, isn’t it realistic that it will happen here?” the CS asked.
Health workers are monitoring 919 people who had come into contact with the country’s 50 cases. Some 2,050 people are in mandatory quarantine.
Health officials warn that the numbers may be higher considering how fast the disease spreads.
"From our modeling, we may get 1,000 cases by the first week of April; 5,000 by mid-April and 10,000 by the end of that month," Director of Health Patrick Amoth said.
“This disease spreads and people can die in thousands per day. Let us follow the rules or we will be stuck,” the CS warned.
The government is also waking up to the reality it should “build internal capacity for materials such as protective gear".
Kenyans in various social media spaces have pointed out that even if spaces for isolation centres were to be acquired, they may not be set up that fast.
Demas Kiprono, a lawyer cum activist, observed that there is not much preparation for a surge in coronavirus patients.
Dagoretti South MP John Kiarie ran into trouble with the DCI after raising questions on how mass numbers would be handled.
Questions are also coming up on what the Sh243 billion allocated to the health sector since 2014 has been spent on.
Allocation for Universal Health Coverage so far stands at Sh11.4 billion, out of which Sh3.1 billion was for pilot counties last financial year and Sh8.3 billion in this one.
Health committee chairperson Sabina Chege also raised concerns over the country’s preparedness saying a lot still needs to be done.
The Murang’a Woman Representative said they need to know how prepared the country is in terms of testing kits, including surveillance testing systems.
Lawmakers want more preparations in terms of providing personal protective equipment and ventilators.
They also want clarity on preparations for the referral system of active cases, contact tracing mechanism and isolation centres countrywide.
Sabina cited challenges of access to Covid-19 tests and treatment as well as management in rural settings. The MP, however, says the government should be given credit where it is due.
Former KMPDU secretary Ouma Oluga said it was time the country moved from pre-pandemic to pandemic action.
“More important now is to focus on the capacity to handle the pandemic on the clinical set-up, commodity supply, and health workforce numbers.”
Edited by R.Wamochie