Counties are banking on community health volunteers to encourage Kenyans not to shun hospitals over Covid-19 fears.
Council of Governors chairman Wycliffe Oparanya on Thursday said 77,614 CHVs and assistants have been trained to coordinate community sensitisation on the availability of the other health services.
Attendance of antenatal clinics and clinic visits for children under five for vaccination or routine check-ups have greatly been hurt during the pandemic.
Also witnessed is a reduction in visits by malaria patients, people living with HIV and those being treated for TB.
Meanwhile, Oparanya said 11,934 isolation beds have been set up across all the 47 counties. Twenty-six counties have at least 300 isolation beds each.
In addition, there are 447 ICU beds and 437 ventilators.
The CoG chairman also said that 28,661 staff have been trained to deal with Covid-19 in all the counties.
“Six counties - Machakos, Wajir, Trans Nzoia, Mombasa, Kilifi and Busia - have certified laboratories to carry out Covid-19 testing. Additionally, Kajiado and Nakuru have mobile labs,” Oparanya said.
The Kakamega county boss noted that despite the challenges being faced by counties, some have continued to pilot innovations in the health sector to improve services.
To improve specialised healthcare services, 36 counties have acquired 40 CT Scans, 132 X-ray machines and opened up cardiac and cancer treatment centres, he said.
