Hospital report: Samburu best equipped as Nandi rated poorest

Only one in five hospitals (24 per cent) in Kenya has all the equipment to offer health services, and none has the World Health Organization essential medicines, a report has shown. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Only one in five hospitals (24 per cent) in Kenya has all the equipment to offer health services, and none has the World Health Organization (WHO) essential medicines, a report has shown.

The Kenya Health Facility Assessment report released last week showed another 77 per cent have basic equipment such as thermometer, adult and child scale and a source of light.

Samburu County had the highest number of health facilities with basic equipment (92 per cent), followed closely by Laikipia (91 per cent) and Murang’a, Kisumu and Lamu at 85 per cent.

Nairobi, Kenya’s richest county with more than a third of the country’s health resources, medical training institutions, healthcare workers and money, did not even feature among the top 10 regions.

Nandi County performed the poorest, with slightly more than a half (64 per cent) of its health facilities having basic equipment.

The study showed how the health system perpetuated inequity in Kenya. Primary healthcare units — dispensaries and health centres — which constitute more than 80 per cent of Kenya’s health facilities and where the majority seek care, were the most affected. Only 17 per cent of these had basic equipment.

Fifty per cent of secondary and tertiary facilities — the former district, provincial and national hospitals — had all the equipment.

The study found that facilities in urban areas were more equipped (30 per cent) than those in rural areas (19 per cent) even though over 70 per cent of Kenyans live in rural areas.

Only 17 per cent of government facilities, which are funded by the taxpayer, had all the basic equipment as compared to a third of private facilities (31 per cent).

Even though Kenya has reached the WHO target of two facilities per 10,000 people, the report showed that both the national and county governments had not matched this with concurrent development to conform to the current standards.

At the launch of the report, Dr Patrick Amoth, the incoming Director-General of Health, said the government would “collaborate with all stakeholders to address these gaps”. While devolution has brought healthcare to people who had suffered systemic neglect, healthcare workers have blamed political influence by MCAs for the haphazard management of health.

Dr Hellen Kiarie, the Health ministry head of monitoring and evaluation, said there seemed to be a perception that healthcare provision was more about the physical structures.

The report showed an increase in acquisition of machines and equipment in the counties, but the country is still experiencing a shortage of staff to operate the fixed equipment.

Almost all counties have bought a number of ambulances for emergency services, but the report says the ambulances rarely achieve their purpose due to uneven distribution of the vehicles.