• Oparanya said county governments have put aside quarantine facilities specifically for the frontline health care workers to facilitate their recovery.
• 1,402 community health volunteers have been trained and sensitized on infection prevention and control, critical care and case management.
Image: CALISTUS LUCHETU
A total of 740 healthcare workers have so far tested positive for Covid-19, Council of Governors chairman Wycliffe Oparanya has said.
This is cumulatively in 43 counties and 10,490 tests that have been carried out so far.
In a press statement released on Thursday on the preparedness, Oparanya said county governments have put aside quarantine facilities specifically for the frontline health care workers to facilitate their recovery.
He also said that 43 counties have trained and sensitized 2,803 healthcare workers. Additionally, 1,402 community health volunteers have been trained and sensitized on infection prevention and control, critical care and case management.
"Cumulatively since the outbreak of COVID-19 94,782 health care workers and 67,190 community health volunteers have been trained and sensitized across the 47 County Governments," Oparanya said.
He added that this has been achieved through the collaborative effort from the National Government, County Governments and Partners.
In terms of the testing exercise, Oparanya raised concern on the saddening state that KEMSA is unable to account for at least Kshs. 43 Billion meant for the fight against COVID-19.
"It is upsetting that donations from Jack Ma were stolen hence exposing our frontline healthcare workers to the virus due to lack of PPE kits or issuance of substandard PPE kits," he said.
He urged the respective office to investigate the matter urgently and bring to book all perpetrators of this heinous act, adding, "it is inconceivable that as a nation our conscience is so compromised that we happily dance on the grave of those who unfortunately succumbed to this virus."
In the case of implementation of home-based care, the governor pointed out that there are 1,881 patients in home based isolation care across 43 Counties.
"A total of 1,145 people confined in home-based care have now fully recovered. County Governments have continued to offer support to COVID-19 patients and their families with the aim of assisting them to manage the virus," he said.
The tourism sector has adversely been affected due to Covid-19 and in order to boost domestic tourism in the wake of COVID-19, the Council of Governors in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife held a consultative meeting.
The meeting was to sensitize counties on the importance of profiling their tourism products so as to help them market themselves and attract investors.
"This initiative will be achieved through an inventory that will consist of all tourism products from the 47 County Governments which will form part of the magical Kenya brand," the governor said.
The Council of Governors through the support of UN Women held a virtual meeting on August 13, 2020 to induct 42 individuals comprising of women, youth and persons with disabilities as representatives of the special interest groups in the County Emergency Response Committees (CERCs).
The induction focused on how to safeguard inclusion of vulnerable groups in the CERCs.
The governor said that this will ensure that the rights, needs and aspirations of persons with disabilities are recognized and values such as inclusion, participation and dignity are considered in the prevention and response of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the quest to fight Covid-19, the turnaround time for testing has remained a major bottleneck in the fight against the virus.
Oparanya pointed out that this has been witnessed through first hand experience by the Council of Governors Staff who undertook a mandatory COVID-19 test which was conducted by the Ministry of Health on 14th August 2020.
He said the results were received one week down the line as opposed to the expected 24 hours.
"This begs the question of how much longer it takes for the ordinary mwananchi to receive their results. Further, it poses a huge risk of community infections which if not addressed in a timely manner,efforts made will be futile.
We call upon the Ministry of Health to expedite the turnaround time for testing results to enable proper and timely management of the virus."
Oparanya also pointed out that county governments have not received their equitable share of revenue due to the stalemate at the Senate as the government is currently two months into the new Financial Year 2020/21.
He said that further delay on the consensus of the formula has now paralyzed county operations and slowed down county response measures towardsCOVID-19.
"We anticipate that this will make the already bad situation worse.We call upon the Senate to expeditiously conclude this matter to enable disbursements of funds to Counties," he said.