Clinicians have called on the government to establish wellness centres in all workplaces, in an effort to help combat the rising burden of mental health in the country.
The Kenya Union of Clinical Officers on Tuesday said the wellness centres will be important in providing comprehensive promotive and preventive services especially in mental health.
They also called on the government to shift focus to strengthening primary health facilities in the country, in an effort to reach more Kenyans with services.
The union said that there is need for annual employment of healthcare workers to bridge the existing human resource gaps in the country.
Kuco noted that the entry of Covid-19 has exposed the fragile health system in the country, and has led to loss of lives including those of healthcare workers in the past two years.
The clinicians said the health sector has suffered from prolonged neglect, hence more needs to be done to rationalise the systems and achieve universal health coverage.
“We have clearly said, we can achieve a desired number of healthcare workers as projected by the WHO and the ministry in the staffing norm if we have enough allocation of funds to employ the desired healthcare workers,” Secretary general George Gibore said.
“When we lack enough healthcare workers and lack of infrastructure we have a failed system which cannot have a clear referral system.”
Kuco also wants the national and county governments to hold discussions and come up with a uniform and harmonised management system for human resources as well as conversion of all contractual employment terms to permanent and pensionable.
“As we talk about UHC, we focus on accessibility, affordability and the quality of services that Kenyans are going to get, when they so need them and where they need them. We do not need to have patients coming to Nairobi to seek services.”
Health is currently financed by both the Ministry of Health and the county health departments.
In 2013-14, the Ministry of Health’s allocation of Sh36 billion constituted 3.4 per cent of the national budget.
