Call for establishment of Nurses Service Commission as third UHC conference Kicks off in Kisumu.

A section of delegates attending the third Kenya National UHC Conference in Kisumu that has kicked off today-Photo Courtesy.

By Dickson Odhiambo.

May 15, 2019.

Call for establishment of Nurses Service Commission as third UHC conference Kicks off in Kisumu. 

THE NURSES across the Country should have a professional body tackling their issues.

This has emerged as the third Universal Health Coverage Conference kicks off in Kisumu today.

Addressing participants during the first day of the conference being held in the Lakeside City, Acting Kisumu County Executive Committee Member in charge of Health and Sanitation Nerry Achar said in recognition of the role the nurses are playing in the health sector, there is a need for the establishment of the Nurses Service Commission in the current constitution.

He says just as the Teachers Service Commission, the Nurses across the country needs to have their constitutionally established Nurses Service Commission which will help in addressing issues like employing and placement of competent nurses across the various health facilities.

Achar says he recognizes the role played by Makueni and Nyeri counties who hosted the previous UHC conferences in shaping the national discourse on UHC. 

This year’s theme of the conference is “Revitalizing Primary Healthcare for Sustainable Universal Health Coverage”.

“Following the launch of the UHC pilot in Kisumu, Nyeri, Machakos and Isiolo, many people have had questions in their minds about what the UHC model for Kenya is and its impact on health outcomes,” Achar says.

He says the Third Kenya National UHC conference provides a platform to share information on UHC, share experiences from the four pilot counties and influence the direction UHC will take as the national government plans to scale up to the remaining 43 counties. 

The CEC adds that the successful implementation of this UHC pilot in the four counties has demonstrated the impact of successful partnership between the national government and counties. 

“Our county has 210 health facilities, out of which 124 are government-owned while the rest are under the ownership of Faith Based Organizations (FBOs), Private sector and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). These facilities serve a population of 1.2 million people. The health indicators in Kisumu have historically been wanting. For instance, HIV prevalence is at 19.9%, 595 women die during childbirth for every 100,000 live births and 79 out of every 1000 children die before their fifth birthday.  These health indicators are worsened by poverty; more than 50% of our population live below the poverty line. We were included in this pilot to represent this kind of setting with a high prevalence of infectious diseases,” he adds.

He says the County Government of Kisumu have managed to register 843,683 out of the 1.1 million residents. 

“Registered residents are now able to access free health services in public sector facilities from level 2 to level 5. Evidence from the department of health clearly shows that the demand for health services has doubled in our county during this pilot.  While this increased demand has come to a great relief for our people, it has caused a great strain on the health system,” Achar says.

He says during the three conference, discussions will be there frankly about the successes realized in the pilot as well as the bottle necks experienced.

 “As we do so, we hope that the national ministry of health will be listening keenly and work together with us to chart the path for UHC scale up in Kenya. It is my hope that the deliberations of these conference will shape the path of UHC implementation in Kenya,” Achar further says.

Kisumu Deputy Governor Dr. Mathews Ochieng Owili says has called for the strengthening of the referral systems for easy implementation of the Universal Health Coverage.

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