Nyong’o points investment in health facilities as a major milestone in his administration
By Dickson Odhiambo
November 26, 2020
Nyong’o
points investment in health facilities as a major milestone in his administration
Kisumu Governor Prof Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o has pointed out some of the key areas in the health sector that has greatly helped in improving health services in Kisumu County.
Nyong’o says in an effort to improve service delivery during the period under review of 2019/2020 by addressing the distance covered by patients, the County Government has invested in the construction of health centres and dispensaries in various wards within the county.
Addressing the residents during the third State of the County Address today in Kisumu City, Governor Nyong’o said the Maternity Wards at Kombewa Hospital, Kisumu County Hospital and Lumumba Hospital were completed, equipped and operationalized thereby serving the residents.
The Governor says the operationalization of Kombewa and Muhoroni Maternity Theatres have greatly reduced emergency referrals to Kisumu County Hospital and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital leaving them to focus on more specialized medical services.
He says the quality of Healthcare provided with the aforementioned investments depends on the quality of health personnel that offer the services.
“My government has continued to actively engage with healthcare workers within the County to help improve their capacity and skills as well as addressing their welfare. During this 2019/2020 Financial Year, we sent 19 healthcare workers including doctors for specialized training in areas such as Surgery, Paediatrics, Internal Medicine and Oncology,” he says.
The Governor says the County Government has employed 250 healthcare workers across various cadres to support the existing workforce and improve access and quality of care towards Universal Health Coverage {UHC} pilot phase.
Nyong’o adds that it has effected promotions to all eligible healthcare workers to the correct Job Groups as per the signed Comprehensive Bargaining Agreement {CBA}.
“The investment in our health human resource thus far has seen our Doctor - population ratio and the Nurse - population ratio grow to 1:44,634 and 1: 2,383 against the recommended WHO standards of 1:1000 and 3:1000 respectively. The numbers are not very impressive but we are steadily and surely covering the ground,” Nyong’o says
To further strengthen our referral system and realizing that Ambulatory Service is a key component in a strong, working referral system and to ensure that patients in need of emergency health services get the required services at minimum time, Governor Nyong’o says his administration has established a well-managed Kisumu County Ambulatory and Emergency Services.
“Currently, there are a total of 20 ambulances, distributed across the Sub-Counties and major facilities, of these 8 were purchased in the ended financial year 2019/2020. Ten of these ambulances are fully equipped with ICU equipment such as Oxygen supply, ECG machines, Spinal boards, Transport ventilators, Suction Units and nebulizers that can support an emergency situation for eight hours,” he says
Nyong’o further says plans are at an advanced stage of putting together a centrally managed fleet system for improved ease of access, adding that the department of Health and Sanitation is also working on a referral strategy called Kisumu County Referral Strategy which will enhance the utilization of other forms of referrals including specialist referral, sample referral, and reverse referrals.
“The investments and experiences enumerated above are geared towards ensuring that our people, by right, have access to health services without suffering financial hardships leading to eradication of extreme poverty and achieving social equity and shared prosperity as envisaged under the Universal Health Coverage Agenda,” he adds.
He says the UHC pilot project that has just come to a close brought with it many lessons, adding that it has identified certain issues that the county Government of Kisumu must deal with as the National Government rolls out the second phase nationally.
“Health financing emerged as one of the key issues with a very close bearing to the successful implementation of this noble idea. To this end, my administration, being fully aware that there are members of our population who for one reason or the other are not able to pay for their premiums under any insurance scheme to allow them access quality healthcare, embarked on a journey to ensure that nobody gets disenfranchised along the way. We came up with a policy to cushion the vulnerable segment of the society by taking care of all their health needs through a health insurance scheme; Marwa Kisumu Solidarity Health Insurance Scheme,” the Governor further says
He says through the scheme, a total of 90,000 vulnerable households across the county will be able to access quality, affordable healthcare, adding that the first batch of 45,000 vulnerable households are being recruited into the scheme with the half be enlisted in the next quarter.
He says the scheme being implemented in partnership with NHIF and PharmAccess will ensure that the most deserving population have access to quality and affordable healthcare at all levels of healthcare delivery especially the public sector. The beneficiaries will access both inpatient and outpatient care under the NHIF Supa Cover benefits package at forty-five public health facilities spread across the seven Sub Counties.
Governor Nyong’o says referral system that is being strengthened will only be meaningful with a referral facility at the apex that offers very specialized consultant medical interventions.
“This informs our drive to continue with the modernization and expansion works we have been carrying out at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital,” he further adds.
The Governor adds that the modernization and expansion of JOOTRH is a five-year project with phase one meant to improve and expand the infrastructure for emergency medical and surgical response, strengthening clinical governance, and identifying and investing in strategies that address neglected but high health burden diseases and conditions in Kisumu County and the region.
He says through the on-going modernization of JOOTRH, there are two Oxygen generating plants with a combined capacity of 305 litres per minute and a 6-tonne liquid oxygen tank, adding that this translates to an installed capacity of 13 million litres. However, this still falls short of the demand estimated at 24 million litres which has soared due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Phase 2 consists of expanding the overall bed capacity in the hospital from the current 530 to 880 – a 70% expansion. Surgical division expands from the current 100 to 300 which is a 200% growth to accommodate surgical sub-specialties of plastic surgery/burns, head and neck (neurosurgery, dental and maxillofacial, and ENT) while reorganizing orthopaedics, general surgery, dialysis and introducing High Dependency Unit (HDU). This will reduce congestion and improve surgical output and outcomes,” he noted.
He says the investments must have measurable outputs, adding that the residents have started seeing the results of the work it has put in at JOOTRH where quality of service is reflected in the average hospitalization days that have considerably come down from 6.3 days in 2016 to 6.1 days in 2020.
Nyong’o further hints that the Kisumu Neurosurgery Project is an ambitious project meant to address the increasing demand for neurology and neurosurgical health in Kisumu County and the region, adding that it further aims at addressing the human resource gap by training neurosurgeons through the collegiate system at the JOOTRH in collaboration with partnerships that we have cultivated in this field across the world.
“To support the initiative, we are putting up an 80-bed neurosurgical inpatient facility equipped with modern facilities. The county has also acquired a surgical microscope that would now make it possible to access hidden parts of the brain. The development is expected to be completed by April 2021 and shall impact on service throughput and facilitate research,” Nyong’o further says.
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