Health is a basic human right and the new constitution guarantees all Kenyans the highest form of healthcare. However this remains just words in a book since Many Kenyans are dying from illnesses and conditions that are easily prevented and/or managed. They are dying because our government is yet to commit to ensuring every Kenyan receives quality accessible and affordable health care. You are probably wondering what I mean by by quality, accessible and affordable healthcare!
QUALITY HEALTH CARE
When you attend a health facility there are stipulated protocols on how procedures are done and when there is a shortcut or modification it exposes both the service provider and you to more risks than the one you came to correct. In our country more than 80% of hospitals are poorly staffed, poorly equipped and have no infrastructure in relation to current norms and standards to add pepper, more than half of the facilities that were upgraded from dispensaries/health center status to hospitals in the last -4 years are still just paper work in government offices, the staff equipment and infrastructure remained the same.
ACCESSIBLE HEALTH CARE
Every Kenyan must be able to access quality health care without challenges, i.e. We don't need to walk 20Km - 40Km to have access to a health facility. accessible health service can be achieved by ensuring roads are good and safe and the transport system are efficient e.t.c. The health facility must run for 24 hours every year, with enough staff to ensure it is efficient even at night. Citizens of Kenya this is your right to have all these in place just make the demand, health workers don't need to leave their workplace to help you realize these instead you go to the streets and demand for it as they continue working. We both loose if they go as we all loose our loved ones.
AFFORDABLE HEALTH SERVICE
The service being given should be affordable to the common Mwananchi. The BAMAKO INITIATIVE which Kenya is part of emphasizes on health care for all which should be of quality, accessible and affordable. Kenya is currently grappling with triple burden of diseases today i.e. 1) The infectious epidermic of yester-years (HIV/AIDS, TB,MALARIA) That is rapidly being overtaken by 2) Non- Communicable disease such as heart diseases, cancer, diabetes and injuries like accidents and assaults. 3) Mental illnesses that insidiously coming up e.g. depression, use of drugs of addiction and personality disorders. However the government focus is stuck in the 90's with unbalanced focus on infectious diseases necessitating an increase in people dying of NCD's and injuries every year. It was only in the last times of the previous government that the minister of health and his colleague the minister for public health had Cancer when they realized that this disease have reached the top of the chain. That's why we are seeing many private hospital making cancer centers. Ask yourself this "in treatment of non communicable diseases do we have accessible and affordable health care?" Don't forget the distance you have to travel to confirm your diagnosis such that by the time you are diagnosed of having cancer, it has metastasize already or you are dead. This is just a tip of an iceberg, it gets worse, drug supply chain management in Kenya has been very poor before KEMSA was developed. There was a year where we lost Ksh. 500 million in drug wastage. Current events shows that up to 30% of medicines in Kenya are counterfeit meaning that instead being protected we are being exposed to toxic and poisonous products as result of inefficient government monitoring system. I Have to congratulate KEMSA for picking up but still its not trying hard enough to ensure efficient and effective medical supplies, since most medical equipment in public hospitals are well beyond there lifespan e.g the only radiotherapy machine in the country is 1970's model that exposes patients to excessive radiation and is prone to frequent breakdown thus a risk to patients. Overall,Kenya has 16 doctors per 100,000 population,3 dentist, 8 pharmacist and pharmacy technology, 1 degree nurse, 32 diploma nurse, and 96 certificate nurse, 16 clinical officers, 4 public health officers and 18 public health technician per 100,000 population each. According to WHO we are chronically understaffed and something must be done so as to have efficiency and effectiveness of quality accessible and affordable health care.. the current health staff needed as per the new staff establishment is 114,023 only 39165 position are filled meaning 74858 position remain vacant. Despite ever-growing challenges in the health sector, government investment in health sector as reflected by its budgetary allocation to health has remained a paltry 5% since the 1990's. The recommended percentage for African countries is 15% of the national budget (Abuja deceleration, which Kenya is a signatory) All these challenges in the health sector have impacted negatively on health service delivery making millennium development goals realization just a mirage.
The fourth president of Kenya, His excellency Uhuru Kenyatta had a brilliant idea on reduction of child mortality and maternal deaths as we await to see the results, its just good on paper as the number of midwives is yet to be up scaled to a working number. We hope it will be done soon rather than later.
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