Medics now blame governors for rising cholera death toll

Medical workers have blamed county governments for the rising number of cholera cases in the country.

At least 216 people have died and 13,000 others have been hospitalised across the country.

And Wednesday, the Association of Public Health Officers Kenya (Aphok) accused governors of hiring quacks in health facilities and side-lining professionals.

This has made response to the disease difficult as those in charge have no clue on what to do in case of an outbreak, the lobby says.

According to the union’s national secretary-general Mr Mohamed Duba, a majority of the governors have hired their allies to head health dockets in their respective counties for political mileage.

“Almost all the 47 counties have this problem and this is why diseases such as cholera and yellow fever have hit the country in a big way,” said Mr Duba.

He was speaking in Nyeri Wednesday when the association held its annual general meeting and national elections.

The most affected regions are Nyanza, Rift Valley and North Eastern, with cases being attributed to contaminated water.

CENTRALISE HEALTH

Although the Ministry of Health has scaled up surveillance, Mr Duba said the only solution to the crisis is to centralise the health docket so that professionals can contain the outbreak using one coordinated agency.

“Currently, there is no coordination among counties yet those affected are moving from one region to the other freely,” he said.

He said the health docket should revert back to the national government.

“We have held several sittings with the Senate and the Parliamentary Committee on Health to revert health to the national government but they are tied by the Constitution,” he said.

The association, which brings together doctors, nurses and other medical workers, said they support a referendum to change the law.

The association proposed that acquisition of health equipment, building of infrastructure and managing of human resources be left to the national government.

“The mistake that Kenyans did was vote in the Constitution without going through it thoroughly.

“The health docket should have remained under the national government,” he added.

The association is pushing the government to form a health service commission for health workers just as it did with teachers.

It argues that it is the only way to weed out quacks in the industry.

Acting registrar in the Ministry of Health Kepha Ombacho, also supported the move to form the commission.