•Artistes not essential and we should have their money. It's a shocking waste of funds.
• Health workers set up call centre specifically for themselves to provide psychological support and report illness.
Image: MARGARET WANJIRU
Health workers have denounced President Uhuru Kenyatta for allocating Sh100 million to artistes to help them through the coronavirus outbreak.
“I am finding it difficult to comprehend how a nation at war with one of it’s deadliest enemies since its birth can decide to give incentives to musicians who are playing background music. The nation completely forgets it's the front line warriors [who count]," National Nurses Association of Kenya chairman Alfred Obengo said on Friday.
President Uhuru Kenyatta on directed the Ministry of Sports to set aside Sh100 million to cushion artistes from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
People are buying less music and art, they can't go to clubs. DJs aren't busy.
“The musicians may wake up one day and find there's no one to listen to their music," Obengo told a press conference.
The bulk of the message was about the need for adequate facilities and PPEs for them to handle suspected and confirmed Covid-19 cases. They want separate isolation units for those who test positive.
Obengo and others said private chemists and clinics where most people seek health services are their first contact with the health care system.
They also want the government to ensure the care of other patients is not compromised by focus on Covid-19, saying they deserve the best quality healthcare and isolation from the coronavirus.
The associations are trying to bring together health professionals dealing with Covid-19 patients to share their experience as a form of therapy. They will also support those who have tested positive.
Specialists, required infrastructure and equipment such as ventilators and ICU facilities should available, as well as ambulances, they said.
They want to have PPEs to enable them to give services without endangering their lives and those of their families.
“We also continue to press for special allowances and insurance cover to cater for those who are working in the [Covid-19 ]designated facilities," Obengo said.
With the support of partners, they are putting up a centre from where they can acquire and distribute protective gear to their members.
They have also set up a call centre specifically for health workers to access information, exchange best practices, provide psychological support and keep track of disease incidence amongst themselves.
The KHP includes the NNAK, Kenya Clinical Officers Association, Kenya Pharmaceutical Association, the Association of Kenya Medical Laboratory Scientific Officers and the Kenya Progressive Nurses Association.
Others are the National Association of Orthopaedic Technologists of Kenya, the Association of Public Health Officers, Kenya Society of Physiotherapists, Kenya Occupational Therapists' Association, the Society of Radiography in Kenya, the Oral Health Association of Kenya, the Orthopaedic and Trauma Association and the Kenya Dental Association, among others
(Edited by V. Graham)