Fund public health facilities adequately

A report from the Auditor-General reveals that a majority of hospitals lack the necessary manpower and infrastructure to function properly.

Indeed, the report indicates that most of our hospitals are sick. Level Four hospitals, which should be the first point of call for severely ill patients, face chronic shortages of personnel and medicines, and broken-down or dilapidated equipment.

While some of the facilities are reported to have been stocking expired drugs, others had operated for months without drugs, functional theatres, drainage systems, reliable water supply and medical oxygen.

Kenyans who fall ill are wary of visiting public health facilities because of poor services or lack of services at all. Most low-income Kenyans would rather visit mission hospitals or poorly equipped private facilities where they are more likely to get basic services than public one where death lurks around the corner.

Kenya’s health sector is fragile and in need of urgent resuscitation, particularly on finances, operational postures and priorities.
In the 2024/2025 financial year, the health sector was allocated a paltry Sh127 billion.

This includes Universal Health Coverage Coordination and Management Unit (Sh4.2 billion); Specialised Medical Equipment and Stipend for Community Health Promoters (Sh4.6 billion); free maternity care (Sh2b); Managed Equipment Services (Sh3.6 b); medical cover for the elderly and severely disabled (Sh861.6 million); and more than Sh30 billion for various funds.

Despite the successive leadership’s commitment to implement Universal Health Coverage, Kenya’s investments in health are insufficient, far below the Abuja Declaration that African countries commit at least 15 percent of their annual budget and the WHO-recommended five percent of GDP, to health sector.

Efforts should therefore be made to ensure that health remains a priority even as the government addresses the general economic downturn and huge public debt.

There is a general feeling among the public that government-run health facilities are either death chambers for the common man or monuments for political expediency by the ruling class.

It is most disturbing that the health sector has been turned into a gravy train for officials and dumping ground for incompetent leaders.