Ailing health sector requires a new dose
By Editorial.Team, March 20, 2024Now is the worst time to be sick in Kenya.The health system is broken and in the Intensive Care Unit.
The grave situation is a potent mix of poor governance, neglect, corruption and reckless mischief by officialdom.
Chaos in the Ministry of Health have put the lives of thousands of sick Kenyans at risk. Doctors have downed tools after the government failed to honour its side of the bargain on the hiring of interns.
They rejected a pay agreement which they thought was giving interns a raw deal. This means the medics are unlikely to report to wards and theatre rooms any time soon.
The Council of Governors has warned that the sector is on the verge of collapse after the national government failed to extend contacts of community health promoters.
These workers are critical pillars in the delivery of the Kenya Kwanza universal health plan. The governors also accuse the national government of failure to service specialized care equipment which it brokered for the sub-nationals.
At the centre of this is a fight between the two levels of government over the supervision of health care. Though devolved, the national government has never hidden its appetite for the sector and the motive is not about health care but the humongous resources assigned to the function.
Today, millions of Kenyans seeking medication in different facilities across the country following the decision by a section of hospitals to turn away National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) members due to a failure of reimbursement.
NHIF card holders have been notified that they will be required to pay in cash for both outpatient and inpatient services as well as specialised services such as dialysis, eye care, cancer management or rehabilitation services.
It is sad that provision of health services in Kenya has been unashamedly associated with looting. From the Covid-19 billionaires, the Kemsa scandals, theft at NHIF that has led to he collapse of hospitals to pilferage of essential drugs by medics, the rot in the sector stinks to the high heavens.
Of course, the impropriety by officials is hardly punished. In fact, corruption is instead, rationalized, tribalised and incentivised through promotions of highly connected perpetrators. The ailing system demands a new potent dose to restore its health. It must start by calling out the mischief by the national government.