MEDICAL STUDENT HEAD MOKAYA ONSASE NOW TELLS THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT TO TAKE THE BLAME FOR THE DEATH OF TAXPAYERS DUE TO DELAY OF FUNDS TO PURCHASE ESSENTIAL MEDICINES.
MEDICAL STUDENT MOKAYA ONSASE TELLS THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT TO TAKE THE BLAME FOR THE DEATH OF TAXPAYERS DUE TO LACK OF ESSENTIAL DRUGS IN FACILITIES
My encounter in one centre
Near the sprawling minor slums in my town in Kisii, lies the morgue, just few metres away from this place termed as the evolutionary dustbin, is a field I used to watch hospital waste burn and the smoke whirl up sardonically, as birds tried feasting on left overs of food. To a growing kid, this sounds interesting to watch, but there is something strange which welcomed a young child's sight then, the sight of dead bodies. I spent time in this area watching dead bodies being transfered to the morgue from hospital like on a daily basis. I used to experience nightmares and imagine how a dead person feels. Well to me I was brought up knowing what death is, I adopted to this life that I don't wish to tell you how becoming a doctor to me seamed an easy choice since my childhood. That is not the story of the day, I have now grown up, in as much as my dreams appeared doubtful at first, am thankful to God that they are almost becoming a reality. Spending life seeing patients die in hospital due to avoidable reasons is what disturbs my nights, not the sight of seeing dead bodies while asleep a child. that is no more as I have adopted to a life seeing patients die all the time.
Its 2.17pm ,a chilly afternoon, I walk into one of the cubes in the internal medicine ward, Dr. James Mairura a senior medical student, and a classmate of mine shakes his head as he gets out from the sight and tells me "This hospital of yours lacks even normal saline and aminophylline, how do you want us to operate,you mean you only have one nebulizer at casualty?" well I do not have a straight answer to give. James is annoyed that they can not support a patient brought in with an asthmatic attack. Even adrenaline one of the most basic resuscitation drugs can not be accessed. Gachucha Eric a senior medical student in Egerton doing his electives at this facility asks what the resuscitation tray in this hospital contains because all his patients are asked to go buy even the most essential drugs. Omondi Christopher who happens to have a hint jokingly says we need to contact the CEO and ask. Remember we are students,any attempt to question authority will make your journey in the school of medicine a dream. So we abandon this idea and tell Christopher, it only happens in movies and not in this hospital. I mean medical students calling the CEO sounds unrealistic. Dr.Jek wanafoyo a senior medical student in Egerton and who hails from Western but currently doing his electives in the facility says this crisis is not only in this facility but the county government and the national government both have a role. "some counties deliberately prioritise other things and put health as a secondary consideration." Wanafoyo says. This is the place where patients are told to purchase even emergency drugs. We lauch an inquiry as to why patients are asked to purchase even normal saline leave alone aminophylline now. Madanga a clinical officer tell us that Kemsa had been supplying the hospital with essential drugs but then stopped like two years ago. Patients are forced to purchase drugs to receive care in this facility.
I walk into the same cube 36 minutes later and the sight that salutes my eyes is disturbing, all I can see are morgue attendants near the bed of the asthmatic patient, they are ready to pick the body to its next destination, one of the patient's relatives rushes in carrying an envelope with adrenaline and aminophylline viles, but sorry it's too late. She will have to contend with the situation. Well let me just be straight, the patient is dead.
The major problem
Now let's call a spade a spade and stop this politics of the devolved health system and how medical superintendents are busy feasting on the available cash catered for health. There is more to such a disaster, one area I now wish to point a finger but I stand to be corrected. According to me, failure by the National Treasury to remit Sh2.8 billion to counties is where the rain starts to beat us on matters health and mortality.
The Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa)is now forced to seek the Senate’s intervention in a bid to recover money for medicines supplied to counties since 2015. I mentioned senators yes, because you always point a finger to governors all the time now that most of us know all the blame when it comes to health, should be thrown to them, because it was devolved. But the Senate house which calls itself the super house has a role. Did you know that some counties are now forced to purchase drugs from other areas with some seeing this as a business opportunity to be exploited by having agreements with pharmaceutical companies? well the latter seems to have set roots in this hospital I am currently.
Kemsa is doing this even as some counties that owe it millions of shillings change tack by purchasing medicines from different entities.
Patients seeking treatment in some of the public health facilities are also forced to pay for drugs from their own pockets. Now how do you expect those emergency cases to be handled surely. Then we should just tell our patients and relatives to the patients to google and go to the nearest chemist and get the essential drugs. Of what essence is it to go to an hospital only to be told we do don't have this emergency drugs and patients have to buy them from pharmacies to receive care? This has subjected the poor to a lot pain and suffering. This is what I can term as solders without bullets, when we get to war, you know what to expect.
According to the agency’s acting chief executive Fred Wanyonyi, the county of Nairobi government has the highest debt of Sh285.6 million and that some governors have been clearing the debts slowly.
The debt is likely to paralyse the agency’s revolving fund if suppliers are not paid before the next financial year. One doesn't need to go to a class of math to notice this math. It's simple.
The money received from counties is what is used to procure medicines. We pay suppliers, they deliver medicine which we sell to counties,that is how this system works. If counties fail to pay, then it is hard to pay the suppliers for sure. This means we can’t plan and we cannot pay. Even Wanyonyi told the Senate Health Committee and this has been insisted several times, I rarely see this issue receive the emphasis it warrants like they do when there is an issue in matters politics and political parties. According to Nairobi’s health executive, Hitan Majevda, Nairobi county will manage to pay Kemsa as soon as a financial audit on the Sh58 billion the county owes contractors is complete. Now remember we are talking of the capital city and the centre of medical services for the country. And I think you can hear the story.
The audit is taking place even as public health facilities in the city are purchasing drugs in small quantities from the little money they receive from patients.
According to him they have had discussions with Kemsa but the body is not supplying medicines to the county at the moment. Facilities are forced to buy medicines in small quantities but the county is also purchasing drugs from distributors to fill the gap. This comes at a time where county cartels have taken advantage of this financial crisis to open up channels to sell essential drugs and scarcity is created intentionally in the hospitals. I will not point a finger to any institution across the country.
Infact some counties owe Kemsa over Sh100 million like Homabay (Sh146 million), Kilifi (Sh128 million), Kitui (Sh136 million), Nandi (Sh121 million), Wajir (Sh106 million), Nakuru (Sh101 million), Narok (Sh104 million) and Machakos (Sh103 million). Others owe less than Sh20 million are Mombasa (Sh860,192), Samburu (Sh14 million), Lamu (Sh12 million) Laikipia (Sh1.6 million) and Busia (Sh14 million).
Quarterly basis
According to the Council of Governors’ health committee chairman, Dr Mohammed Kuti, the Treasury is squarely to blame for the predicament the health sector is in at the moment. Well he has a point. We can not keep on shifting blame to our governors when the national government has a role to play. We forget that when it comes to health financing, the national government has a great role. The country experiences a delay in the disbursement of funds and counties are unable to meet their obligations. One has to prioritise what to pay for. Well now shift the blame to counties here, some do not prioritise health some do. The buck stops with the Treasury and if counties get all the cash, they will clear what is owed to Kemsa. As simple as that. There is no blame game here.
In kenya, County governments have not received money for December, January, February and March. Infact To help solve this crisis, Kemsa has made arrangements with some of the governors on how to reduce the debts as they continue receiving supplies for their hospitals and clinics. But not all governors have the same aspirations like those who have made such efforts. For example in Machakos County, governor Alfred Mutua made a deal with the agency that will see the county pay for supplies on a quarterly basis. Well I think some counties should adopt this please, rather than also blame the national government all the time. That is why we elected this guy to save us in times of disgrace like this. The issue of shifting the burden to the patients is not what I would love to see continue. However, this arrangement has been affected by delay of funds and now we are left in a crisis. The arrangement with Kemsa has seen some counties provide essential drugs to their patients.
A report by Kemsa shows most counties tried to reduce their debt before the 2017-2018 financial year. However, the debt has since grown in the last 10 months.
Uasin Gishu County recently reduced its debt from Sh149,656,671 million to Sh75,097,316. Bungoma’s debt has increased to Sh67,735,839 from Sh7,474,087 in 2015-2016. This are just some of the counties I know of.
The current situation.
Approximately 1.6 million Africans died of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV-related illnesses in 2015. These diseases can be prevented or treated with timely access to appropriate and affordable medicines, vaccines and other health services. But less than 2% of drugs consumed in Africa are produced on the continent, meaning that many sick patients do not have access to locally produced drugs and may not afford to buy the imported ones.
Without access to medicines, Africans are susceptible to the three big killer diseases on the continent: malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Globally, 50% of children under five who die of pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles, HIV, tuberculosis and malaria are in Africa, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The organisation defines having access to medicine as having medicines continuously available and affordable at health facilities that are within one hour’s walk of the population.
In some parts of Zimbabwe, for example, some nurses give painkillers to sick patients as a “treat-all drug,” says Charles Ndlovu, a Zimbabwean living in Botswana. well the situation in some Kenyan hospitals is no different from this. Some of his family members have been treated in hospitals in Zimbabwe. With most medicines unavailable, the nurses have little choice.
Dave Puo, from Mpumalanga in South Africa, says that in his country, “when you seek medical attention, you are often informed that there is no medication and advised to go to the big hospitals,” which the majority of the poor cannot afford. “The system does not care about your [empty] pockets.”
Inhibiting factors
About 80% of Africans, mostly those in the middle-income bracket and below, rely on public health facilities, reported the World Bank in 2013. With public health facilities suffering chronic shortages of critical drugs, many patients die of easily curable diseases.
Several factors inhibit access to medicines, but the major ones, according to the WHO, are the shortage of resources and the lack of skilled personnel.
“Low-income countries experience poor availability of essential medicines in health facilities, substandard-quality treatments, frequent stock-outs and suboptimal prescription and use of medicines,” says the world health body.
Africa’s inefficient and bureaucratic public sector supply system is often plagued by poor procurement practices that make drugs very costly or unavailable. Well this is one of the situations in this hospital I work in. Added to these are the poor transportation system, a lack of storage facilities for pharmaceutical products and a weak manufacturing capacity.
Africa’s capacity for pharmaceutical research and development (R & D) and local drug production still has a long way to go. Only 37 out of 54 African states have some level of pharmaceutical production. Except South Africa, which boasts some active local pharmaceutical ingredients, most countries rely on imported ingredients.
The result is that Africa imports 70% of its pharmaceutical products, with India alone accounting for nearly 18% of imports in 2011. Pharmaceutical imports in Africa include up to 80% of the antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) used to treat HIV/AIDS, according to trade data.
“Many African governments spend a disproportionate amount of their scarce resources on procuring medicines,” writes Carlos Lopes, former executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
To produce medicines, a country must abide by Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP), which are enforced by the United States and other governments to ensure the quality of manufacturing processes and facilities. Many African countries do not have the technical, financial or human resources required for high-scale drug production.
But Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia have made progress in local pharmaceutical productions. Morocco is Africa’s second-largest pharmaceutical producer (after South Africa), and has 40 pharmaceutical manufacturing companies that supply 70% of products for local consumption and also exports to neighbouring countries. Countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania are currently developing production capacity.
Progress in some countries
Availability of medicines is one thing, but affordability is another important factor. Countries such as Ghana and South Africa have made efforts to make drugs affordable through insurance schemes, but these efforts have been largely feeble. Overall, insurance schemes cover less than 8% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa and do not cover prescription medicines on an outpatient basis.
To underscore the problem of affordability, WHO notes that treating a child for malaria in Uganda with artemisinin combination therapy will cost a household the equivalent of 11 days’ income. In Kenya, a seven-day treatment course of ciprofloxacin antibiotic could cost a month’s wages.
Despite obvious difficulties, some countries are making strides in improving access to medicine. Botswana is among the countries that could be malaria-free by the year 2020, reports WHO. Director-general of Botswana’s health ministry Shenaaz el Halabi told Africa Renewal, “We have seen a tremendous improvement in our health care system in recent years.”
Ethiopia has made considerable progress too, particularly in the control of HIV and treatment of malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases. “Ethiopia’s increased investments in expanding effective health coverage—it rose to 95% in 2013 to 2014—has already improved health indicators in the population, reducing child mortality and HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis,” states WHO.
Kenya as a country can have no excuses according to me on matters financing health, we have the capacity to purchase basic or essential drugs and ensure at least we can serve the population that seeks medical services in our public facilities, otherwise shifting blame will only see us lose many patients from preventable reasons.
Mokaya Onsase is a 6th year medicine and surgery undergraduate student leader based in Egerton and the founder of reproductive health network for rural communities.
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| Egerton University Medicine students assist in a surgical procedure in one of the country's referral facility. |
Near the sprawling minor slums in my town in Kisii, lies the morgue, just few metres away from this place termed as the evolutionary dustbin, is a field I used to watch hospital waste burn and the smoke whirl up sardonically, as birds tried feasting on left overs of food. To a growing kid, this sounds interesting to watch, but there is something strange which welcomed a young child's sight then, the sight of dead bodies. I spent time in this area watching dead bodies being transfered to the morgue from hospital like on a daily basis. I used to experience nightmares and imagine how a dead person feels. Well to me I was brought up knowing what death is, I adopted to this life that I don't wish to tell you how becoming a doctor to me seamed an easy choice since my childhood. That is not the story of the day, I have now grown up, in as much as my dreams appeared doubtful at first, am thankful to God that they are almost becoming a reality. Spending life seeing patients die in hospital due to avoidable reasons is what disturbs my nights, not the sight of seeing dead bodies while asleep a child. that is no more as I have adopted to a life seeing patients die all the time.
 |
| Mokaya Onsase, the medical student speaks in a past function on matters health financing. |
Its 2.17pm ,a chilly afternoon, I walk into one of the cubes in the internal medicine ward, Dr. James Mairura a senior medical student, and a classmate of mine shakes his head as he gets out from the sight and tells me "This hospital of yours lacks even normal saline and aminophylline, how do you want us to operate,you mean you only have one nebulizer at casualty?" well I do not have a straight answer to give. James is annoyed that they can not support a patient brought in with an asthmatic attack. Even adrenaline one of the most basic resuscitation drugs can not be accessed. Gachucha Eric a senior medical student in Egerton doing his electives at this facility asks what the resuscitation tray in this hospital contains because all his patients are asked to go buy even the most essential drugs. Omondi Christopher who happens to have a hint jokingly says we need to contact the CEO and ask. Remember we are students,any attempt to question authority will make your journey in the school of medicine a dream. So we abandon this idea and tell Christopher, it only happens in movies and not in this hospital. I mean medical students calling the CEO sounds unrealistic. Dr.Jek wanafoyo a senior medical student in Egerton and who hails from Western but currently doing his electives in the facility says this crisis is not only in this facility but the county government and the national government both have a role. "some counties deliberately prioritise other things and put health as a secondary consideration." Wanafoyo says. This is the place where patients are told to purchase even emergency drugs. We lauch an inquiry as to why patients are asked to purchase even normal saline leave alone aminophylline now. Madanga a clinical officer tell us that Kemsa had been supplying the hospital with essential drugs but then stopped like two years ago. Patients are forced to purchase drugs to receive care in this facility.
I walk into the same cube 36 minutes later and the sight that salutes my eyes is disturbing, all I can see are morgue attendants near the bed of the asthmatic patient, they are ready to pick the body to its next destination, one of the patient's relatives rushes in carrying an envelope with adrenaline and aminophylline viles, but sorry it's too late. She will have to contend with the situation. Well let me just be straight, the patient is dead.
 |
| Egerton University Medical Student Christopher Omondi assists in an operation. |
Now let's call a spade a spade and stop this politics of the devolved health system and how medical superintendents are busy feasting on the available cash catered for health. There is more to such a disaster, one area I now wish to point a finger but I stand to be corrected. According to me, failure by the National Treasury to remit Sh2.8 billion to counties is where the rain starts to beat us on matters health and mortality.
The Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa)is now forced to seek the Senate’s intervention in a bid to recover money for medicines supplied to counties since 2015. I mentioned senators yes, because you always point a finger to governors all the time now that most of us know all the blame when it comes to health, should be thrown to them, because it was devolved. But the Senate house which calls itself the super house has a role. Did you know that some counties are now forced to purchase drugs from other areas with some seeing this as a business opportunity to be exploited by having agreements with pharmaceutical companies? well the latter seems to have set roots in this hospital I am currently.
Kemsa is doing this even as some counties that owe it millions of shillings change tack by purchasing medicines from different entities.
Patients seeking treatment in some of the public health facilities are also forced to pay for drugs from their own pockets. Now how do you expect those emergency cases to be handled surely. Then we should just tell our patients and relatives to the patients to google and go to the nearest chemist and get the essential drugs. Of what essence is it to go to an hospital only to be told we do don't have this emergency drugs and patients have to buy them from pharmacies to receive care? This has subjected the poor to a lot pain and suffering. This is what I can term as solders without bullets, when we get to war, you know what to expect.
 |
| The body incharge of Medical Supplies |
The debt is likely to paralyse the agency’s revolving fund if suppliers are not paid before the next financial year. One doesn't need to go to a class of math to notice this math. It's simple.
The money received from counties is what is used to procure medicines. We pay suppliers, they deliver medicine which we sell to counties,that is how this system works. If counties fail to pay, then it is hard to pay the suppliers for sure. This means we can’t plan and we cannot pay. Even Wanyonyi told the Senate Health Committee and this has been insisted several times, I rarely see this issue receive the emphasis it warrants like they do when there is an issue in matters politics and political parties. According to Nairobi’s health executive, Hitan Majevda, Nairobi county will manage to pay Kemsa as soon as a financial audit on the Sh58 billion the county owes contractors is complete. Now remember we are talking of the capital city and the centre of medical services for the country. And I think you can hear the story.
The audit is taking place even as public health facilities in the city are purchasing drugs in small quantities from the little money they receive from patients.
According to him they have had discussions with Kemsa but the body is not supplying medicines to the county at the moment. Facilities are forced to buy medicines in small quantities but the county is also purchasing drugs from distributors to fill the gap. This comes at a time where county cartels have taken advantage of this financial crisis to open up channels to sell essential drugs and scarcity is created intentionally in the hospitals. I will not point a finger to any institution across the country.
Infact some counties owe Kemsa over Sh100 million like Homabay (Sh146 million), Kilifi (Sh128 million), Kitui (Sh136 million), Nandi (Sh121 million), Wajir (Sh106 million), Nakuru (Sh101 million), Narok (Sh104 million) and Machakos (Sh103 million). Others owe less than Sh20 million are Mombasa (Sh860,192), Samburu (Sh14 million), Lamu (Sh12 million) Laikipia (Sh1.6 million) and Busia (Sh14 million).
 |
| A picture of a face mask used in delivery of oxygen during emergencies. |
Quarterly basis
According to the Council of Governors’ health committee chairman, Dr Mohammed Kuti, the Treasury is squarely to blame for the predicament the health sector is in at the moment. Well he has a point. We can not keep on shifting blame to our governors when the national government has a role to play. We forget that when it comes to health financing, the national government has a great role. The country experiences a delay in the disbursement of funds and counties are unable to meet their obligations. One has to prioritise what to pay for. Well now shift the blame to counties here, some do not prioritise health some do. The buck stops with the Treasury and if counties get all the cash, they will clear what is owed to Kemsa. As simple as that. There is no blame game here.
In kenya, County governments have not received money for December, January, February and March. Infact To help solve this crisis, Kemsa has made arrangements with some of the governors on how to reduce the debts as they continue receiving supplies for their hospitals and clinics. But not all governors have the same aspirations like those who have made such efforts. For example in Machakos County, governor Alfred Mutua made a deal with the agency that will see the county pay for supplies on a quarterly basis. Well I think some counties should adopt this please, rather than also blame the national government all the time. That is why we elected this guy to save us in times of disgrace like this. The issue of shifting the burden to the patients is not what I would love to see continue. However, this arrangement has been affected by delay of funds and now we are left in a crisis. The arrangement with Kemsa has seen some counties provide essential drugs to their patients.
A report by Kemsa shows most counties tried to reduce their debt before the 2017-2018 financial year. However, the debt has since grown in the last 10 months.
Uasin Gishu County recently reduced its debt from Sh149,656,671 million to Sh75,097,316. Bungoma’s debt has increased to Sh67,735,839 from Sh7,474,087 in 2015-2016. This are just some of the counties I know of.
The current situation.
Approximately 1.6 million Africans died of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV-related illnesses in 2015. These diseases can be prevented or treated with timely access to appropriate and affordable medicines, vaccines and other health services. But less than 2% of drugs consumed in Africa are produced on the continent, meaning that many sick patients do not have access to locally produced drugs and may not afford to buy the imported ones.
Without access to medicines, Africans are susceptible to the three big killer diseases on the continent: malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Globally, 50% of children under five who die of pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles, HIV, tuberculosis and malaria are in Africa, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The organisation defines having access to medicine as having medicines continuously available and affordable at health facilities that are within one hour’s walk of the population.
In some parts of Zimbabwe, for example, some nurses give painkillers to sick patients as a “treat-all drug,” says Charles Ndlovu, a Zimbabwean living in Botswana. well the situation in some Kenyan hospitals is no different from this. Some of his family members have been treated in hospitals in Zimbabwe. With most medicines unavailable, the nurses have little choice.
Dave Puo, from Mpumalanga in South Africa, says that in his country, “when you seek medical attention, you are often informed that there is no medication and advised to go to the big hospitals,” which the majority of the poor cannot afford. “The system does not care about your [empty] pockets.”
Inhibiting factors
About 80% of Africans, mostly those in the middle-income bracket and below, rely on public health facilities, reported the World Bank in 2013. With public health facilities suffering chronic shortages of critical drugs, many patients die of easily curable diseases.
Several factors inhibit access to medicines, but the major ones, according to the WHO, are the shortage of resources and the lack of skilled personnel.
“Low-income countries experience poor availability of essential medicines in health facilities, substandard-quality treatments, frequent stock-outs and suboptimal prescription and use of medicines,” says the world health body.
Africa’s inefficient and bureaucratic public sector supply system is often plagued by poor procurement practices that make drugs very costly or unavailable. Well this is one of the situations in this hospital I work in. Added to these are the poor transportation system, a lack of storage facilities for pharmaceutical products and a weak manufacturing capacity.
Africa’s capacity for pharmaceutical research and development (R & D) and local drug production still has a long way to go. Only 37 out of 54 African states have some level of pharmaceutical production. Except South Africa, which boasts some active local pharmaceutical ingredients, most countries rely on imported ingredients.
The result is that Africa imports 70% of its pharmaceutical products, with India alone accounting for nearly 18% of imports in 2011. Pharmaceutical imports in Africa include up to 80% of the antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) used to treat HIV/AIDS, according to trade data.
“Many African governments spend a disproportionate amount of their scarce resources on procuring medicines,” writes Carlos Lopes, former executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
To produce medicines, a country must abide by Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP), which are enforced by the United States and other governments to ensure the quality of manufacturing processes and facilities. Many African countries do not have the technical, financial or human resources required for high-scale drug production.
But Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia have made progress in local pharmaceutical productions. Morocco is Africa’s second-largest pharmaceutical producer (after South Africa), and has 40 pharmaceutical manufacturing companies that supply 70% of products for local consumption and also exports to neighbouring countries. Countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania are currently developing production capacity.
Progress in some countries
Availability of medicines is one thing, but affordability is another important factor. Countries such as Ghana and South Africa have made efforts to make drugs affordable through insurance schemes, but these efforts have been largely feeble. Overall, insurance schemes cover less than 8% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa and do not cover prescription medicines on an outpatient basis.
To underscore the problem of affordability, WHO notes that treating a child for malaria in Uganda with artemisinin combination therapy will cost a household the equivalent of 11 days’ income. In Kenya, a seven-day treatment course of ciprofloxacin antibiotic could cost a month’s wages.
Despite obvious difficulties, some countries are making strides in improving access to medicine. Botswana is among the countries that could be malaria-free by the year 2020, reports WHO. Director-general of Botswana’s health ministry Shenaaz el Halabi told Africa Renewal, “We have seen a tremendous improvement in our health care system in recent years.”
Ethiopia has made considerable progress too, particularly in the control of HIV and treatment of malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases. “Ethiopia’s increased investments in expanding effective health coverage—it rose to 95% in 2013 to 2014—has already improved health indicators in the population, reducing child mortality and HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis,” states WHO.
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| Mokaya Onsase in a theatre wear (EGERTON UNIVESITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE) |
Kenya as a country can have no excuses according to me on matters financing health, we have the capacity to purchase basic or essential drugs and ensure at least we can serve the population that seeks medical services in our public facilities, otherwise shifting blame will only see us lose many patients from preventable reasons.
Mokaya Onsase is a 6th year medicine and surgery undergraduate student leader based in Egerton and the founder of reproductive health network for rural communities.
Sad state of affairs..still the Kenya we long to change ..the Kenya we dream to build.Such an eye opener...
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