Lack of allocation to hire more health workers rattles unions

Failure by the National Treasury to allocate funds in the recent budget statement for recruitment of additional healthcare workers has rattled health unions.

Of greater concern is that ,Kenya is still far from achieving the Abuja Declaration signed 20 years ago on April 27, 2001 that requires countries to allocate 15 per cent of their government budgets to health.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani in his 2022-23 budget, read on Thursday, allocated Sh146.8 billion to the health sector.

The  budget estimates gave health its biggest allocation ever, but still fell short of the Abuja declaration.

It is less than five per cent of the GDP compared to the education sector that was allocated Sh503.9 billion, equivalent to 23.9 per cent.

Unlike in the health sector, the Teachers Service Commission has been allocated Sh2.5 billion for recruitment of teachers.

The health unions are now questioning how the country will be able to attain Universal Health Coverage that is anchored on the pillars of access and affordability without the required human resource.

“The budget is quite low. By only allocating 4.6 per cent it means that there will be no new healthcare workers being employed," David Atellah, the secretary general of Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists’ Union said.

"I don’t see any change in the healthcare that would be seen in the coming days.”

He said that despite the government setting aside Sh62 billion for the UHC, it has not been put clearly what personnel will be employed in that aspect, questioning the success of the programme.

“There are so many hospitals being built and we call them white elephant projects because they are not functional, they don’t have the personnel and equipment needed,"he said.

"They don’t have the drugs either.So unless that is done the way it is required there is still a lot to be done in healthcare.” 

The African heads of State, meeting in Nigeria in 2001, signed a seven-page document promising to do everything possible to defeat HIV-Aids and tuberculosis.

On page five of the document it says, “We pledge to set a target of allocating at least 15 percent of our annual budget to the improvement of the health sector.”

The declaration, which Kenya is a signatory to, was agreed upon after it emerged that more resources were required to address the pressing health challenges of the day.

It thus became a rallying call to mobilise more resources from government coffers for the health sector.

“It seems they have not learnt from covid-19 and I think that is my biggest concern,” Kenya Union of Clinical Officers chairperson Peterson Wachira said.

He said lack of an annual budgetary allocation to ensure that  more healthcare workers are employed  to meet the staffing norms and standards indicated that Kenya never learned from the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to global health expert Bernard Muia, even though the budgetary allocation to health has been increasing, more needs to be done to meet the Abuja declaration.

“It is a step in a good direction but we are still not meeting the Abuja declaration of 15 per cent of GDP to go to health,"he said.

"Health has received a quarter of what education has received so it is low and is not adequate.” 

According to the World Health Organisation, the prescribed health worker density ratio is determined as 23 doctors, nurses and midwives for every 10,000 people.

Data shows that the health workforce ratio in Kenya stands at 13 doctors, nurses, midwives for every 10,000 people.

The data for instance shows that the country has a shortage gap of 3,238 medical officers with the required number being at least 5,317.

There is also a deficit of 2,313 consultants, 1,070 dentists, 4,614 public health officers, 1,020 pharmacists, 4,167 pharmaceutical technologists, 3,970 specialists’ clinical officers and 9,301 general clinical officers.

(Edited by Francis Wadegu)