Residents beam with joy over milestones in health sector

Governor Lee Kinyanjui (left) and medics visit a kidney patient at the Nakuru Level Five Hospital during the launch of Sh4 million dialysis machine donated by the Safaricom Foundation on March 15, 2018. PHOTO | SILA KIPLAGAT | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Some, like Garissa and West Pokot, have been celebrated for reducing maternal mortality rates through a raft of innovative measures.
  • Devolution has improved accountability and service delivery as officials are now more accountable to residents.

When Musa Marusoi, 71, suddenly fell ill two months ago and visited Kericho County Referral Hospital, he was diagnosed with a heart condition that needed surgery.

The news shocked him. First, he had the understandable fear of going under a surgeon’s knife on the body’s most vital organ.

Secondly, he could not immediately raise the Sh500,000 needed for the procedure soon enough.

While his family scratched their heads on how to raise the amount, the regional government announced that there would be free heart surgeries at the referral hospital, being conducted in partnership with doctors from the US.

HEART SURGERY
When Sunday Nation caught up with him recuperating after the procedure, the septuagenarian could not hide his joy after the operation was successful and that “the doctors have managed to take away his pain”.

“I am so happy that I have received medication and I’ll be forever grateful,” he said.

“I have had this problem for a month. I fell sick suddenly and came to the county hospital where the problem was discovered. Luckily, these doctors came and took away my pain.”

Mr Marusoi was one of the 20 patients who benefited from the successful heart surgery done by a team of cardiologists from Michigan State University and their local counterparts.

Kericho marked a milestone as the first ever cardiac pacemaker implantation procedure was done during a week-long free medical camp.

The procedure would have cost each of the patients at least Sh500,000 in private hospitals.

HEALTHCARE
At least seven counties have in the past four years performed milestone procedures, which included caesarean births as well as brain and heart surgeries, most of which were once a preserve of major hospitals in the country and international health facilities.

From Embu to Lamu, Makueni to Garissa, Kakamega to Mandera, the devolved units have been lauded for improving access to quality healthcare services to residents.

Some, like Garissa and West Pokot, have been celebrated for increasing the number of deliveries within health facilities and reducing maternal mortality rates through a raft of innovative measures.

Garissa County introduced maternal shelters, kits, incentives for traditional birth attendants and community health workers and the use of WhatsApp messaging to connect health facilities.  

Prof Winnie Mitulah, an expert on policy, sums up the achievements in health as a realisation of the benefits of devolution, whose intention was to bring services closer to residents.

“Some of these things were dreams that we never thought would be achieved.

"But the little that we are seeing in counties, despite the challenges that a number of them faced in the early years, is commendable and a sign of greater things to come,” the University of Nairobi don said.

DEVOLUTION
Besides infrastructure, health has been hailed as one of the best success stories of devolution and the back-bone of development in the regional governments.

Devolution has improved accountability and service delivery as officials are now more accountable to residents.

The health docket has, however, faced teething problems like strikes by doctors and nurses and poor funding, affecting service delivery.

Prof Mitulah, the director of Institute of Development Studies, said these challenges are avoidable through proper planning and sharing of resources.

“All we need is to reconceptualise these issues and think of possible deployment of skills where we have fewer ones.

"This will require partnerships between the national and county governments as well as private health institutions.”

TREATMENT FUNDS
Beneficiaries who spoke to the Nation said the initiatives had transformed their lives and allowed them access to affordable healthcare.

Ms Sarah Mwalimu from Makueni County said she had been admitted to Kibwezi Sub-County hospital after being diagnosed with hypertension-related complications, but she had no money to cater for the treatment.

Her family was contemplating selling their two goats to facilitate her medication. She spent two weeks in hospital.

Her bills were settled by the county government’s free healthcare programme launched by Governor Kivutha Kibwana.

“The hospital staff told us of the free healthcare plan and I immediately informed my family members and we registered for the scheme,” Ms Mwalimu told Nation at her home in Misava Village, Kibwezi East Constituency last week. 

HEALTH FACILITIES

In the period between October 2016 and November last year, 33,344 out of the total 193,000 households registered for the service, according to county health executive Andrew Mulwa.

This represents 17 per cent absorption rate.

The county used Sh143 million on the universal healthcare programme within the same period, according to available data.

Health is almost fully devolved, with only national referral hospitals and the formulation of policy remaining at the national level.

The counties have in total spent Sh126 billion on health in three years.

The Council of Governors says healthcare is more accessible and affordable to millions of Kenyans.

“We have increased the number of nurses from 9,816 to 15,000, while increasing the number of doctors to the current 3,786.

"Counties had increased hospitals, dispensaries and health centres by 12, 21 and 15 per cent respectively in the last three years,” the Council of Governors secretariat said.

AMBULANCES
In Marsabit County for instance, the devolved unit has been lauded for improving access to healthcare services through the purchase of 21 ambulances.

Trans Nzoia Referral Hospital is also under construction and is expected to serve a population of one million while Nyandarua has constructed a 60-bed maternity at Kinangop Sub-County hospital.

Expenditure on drugs has increased by 40 per cent as has accessibility to specialised medical care including diabetes and renal care.

Additional reporting by Pius Maundu