Medical engineers have urged the government to treat them the same way as other health professionals.
Association of Medical Engineers of Kenya secretary general Millicent Alooh said there is a shortage of medical engineers in health facilities despite having many trained biomedical engineers.
“It is my humble submission as you plan to employ other workers at least you consider this profession for a proportionate number like other cadres,” she said.
Alooh spoke during the opening of a scientific conference and exhibition for medical engineers at Golf Hotel in Kakamega on Wednesday.
The conference, themed healthcare technology management amid Covid-19 pandemic in low resource countries, was graced by the Health Cabinet Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangangi.
Alooh said that medical engineers no not have a regulatory body like most health cadres, making it difficult to streamline the profession.
“On behalf of AMEK, I humbly request the Ministry of Health to intervene on this matter so that we can have a bill we have formulated, and which has been lying in Parliament for six years, enacted to regulate this profession, especially in areas of training which has now been commercialised by most training institutions,” she said.
Alooh urged the ministry to fast track the launch and implementation of the Medical Devices Management Policy, which was prepared and signed in 2018.
She said the law will address some of the challenges facing the profession in healthcare facilities especially in the county governments.
The official said that the Ministry of Health and county governments have invested heavily in medical equipment and there is a need for the association to prepare and apprise its members on emerging technologies and innovations for effective management of the equipment.
The three-day conference is to come up with a way forward on how to operate during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mwangangi said that medical engineers played a critical role during the pandemic by ensuring the equipment were in working condition.
She said that the ministry will honour some of the engineers who played a big role during the pandemic peak.
She said that Kenya wants to be self-reliant by relying more on locally manufactured equipment through innovation.
“Medical engineers contribute directly and indirectly as alluded to by the association officials to the well being of our patients because equipment cannot be of use when they are not working,” she said.
She asked county governments to dedicate 10 per cent of their health budget on maintenance of medical equipment, adding the government would soon launch the Medical Devices Management Policy and address issues of human resource.
Mwangangi said that input by the medical engineers on the types of medical equipment to be procured by the ministry and innovation was critical.
