Experts have raised alarm over the rise of digestive diseases, threatening the government’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) targets.

With only 30 registered Physician-Gastroenterologists in Kenya according to Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) records, experts warn the burden of the diseases of the stomach could overwhelm the few trained specialists and the economy in general.

Gastroenterologists are trained to diagnose and treat problems in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and liver. It has also emerged that most of these specialists are concentrated in the major towns especially Nairobi and Mombasa, leaving counties bearing the heaviest burden.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel as a three-year programme under an agreement between the Ministries of Health of Japan and Kenya, championing the training of 13 gastrointestinal endoscopy doctors.

“Kenya Endoscopy Human Resource Development Support Project for the Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Diseases, which is supported by the government of Japan, is a timely intervention,” Dr. Linda Gathara, head of Endoscopy at Kenyatta National Hospital- KNH said yesterday during a short training induction programme at the hospital.

The training is supported by the Olympus Corporation based in Tokyo, Japan, a country which has a robust technology on gastrointestinal endoscopy medicine. There are six gastroenterologists drawn from Nairobi and seven others from the counties.