Boost maternal healthcare

The controversy over the ongoing doctors’ strike is overshadowing efforts to enhance healthcare.

They include the Universal Health Care (UHC) programme, meant to improve access to quality and affordable medical care.

The UHC remains an elusive dream and yet the Constitution guarantees every Kenyan a right to the highest standard of healthcare services. 

However, an audit has exposed a dire situation in public maternity hospitals, with newborns forced to share incubators as their mothers share beds.

Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu’s report says maternity wards in county hospitals and health centres not only have insufficient equipment but also lack qualified health workers.

The survey covered 67 public health facilities, including six Level-Five hospitals in Nairobi and several other counties. Only 29 of the 67 facilities have newborn units. And most facilities did not have enough beds.

Basic maternity services

Six per cent of the health facilities were found to lack the necessary equipment for basic maternity services, which explains the rise in the maternal mortality rate between 2017 and 2022. They rose from 409 in 2017 to 1,053 in 2020-2021.

UHC has largely failed to take off despite a pilot scheme started in Isiolo, Kisumu, Machakos and Nyeri counties in 2017 to assess the government’s ability to provide affordable or free healthcare.

These were picked for their high incidence of diseases, maternal mortality and road crash deaths and injuries.

Critics cite our Achilles’ heel in healthcare as reliance on donor funding and inadequate health financing, which could hamper the realisation of the UHC dream by 2030.

The health sector crisis continues despite efforts such as then-First Lady Margaret Kenyatta’s Beyond Zero programme that aimed at reducing maternal and child mortality.

The Linda Mama programme, run through the NHIF, was also meant to improve maternal and child health.

The Health authorities should urgently address maternal healthcare inadequacies.