21 counties seek more time to buy isolation beds
An intensive care unit at a Narok hospital. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Cumulatively, counties had attained a total of about 10,000 isolation beds against the national target of 30,500 units.
Twenty-one counties have two weeks to meet the President’s target of 300 isolation beds capacity.
In a statement seen by the Nation, 26 counties have attained the target while the 21 requested for an extension until July 22.
The counties that have not met the requirement include Nairobi, Baringo, Bomet, Busia Elgeyo Marakwet, Embu, Isiolo, Kajiado,Siaya, Taita Taveta, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir, Kitui, Lamu, Marasabit, Migori, Meru, Nyamira, Samburu and Kisumu.
“The remaining 21 counties are working towards achieving the same by July 22. They are all at different levels of preparedness,” said Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, the chairman of the Council of Governors.
Cumulatively, counties had attained a total of about 10,000 isolation beds against the national target of 30,500 units.
Mombasa leads in bed capacity with 432, followed by Machakos at 373 beds, Nyeri (340), Kiambu (325), Uasin Gishu (324), Makueni (312), Kisii (310), Kilifi (308), Murang’a (305) and Homa Bay at 300 beds.
HEALTH WORKERS
On human resources, Mr Oparanya reported that 38 counties had trained a total of 19,177 health personnel and an additional 64,283 community health volunteers on Covid-19 management.
On active cases in the counties, the governor reported that 933 people are in various quarantine facilities in the 38 counties.
“In the last one and a half weeks, there has been a decrease in the number of people in quarantine facilities, this is attributed to the uptake of self-quarantine. In total, counties have tested 3,970 samples,” Mr Oparanya said.
The governor, however, singled out the political class as the most unconcerned and reckless in the fight against the disease.
“I urge all politicians, including myself, to lead by example because we are not immune to the disease. Let us support the President and keep Kenya safe by not encouraging political gatherings,” he said
He also said that testing challenges in counties may not paint a true picture of the spread of the virus hence posing a risk of increased community transmission.
“Despite the availability of GenExpert in all the counties, testing has been hindered due to lack of cartridges. We cannot contain this virus if we do not expand the testing,” he said.
He warned the testing facilities releasing contradictory results that they risk losing the trust of Kenyans.
