Fix public health hitches - Daily Nation

As the country grapples with challenges arising from devolution of healthcare, a new report that indicates that more than 50 per cent of all the doctors, nurses and clinical officers skip duty on any given day raises yet another crisis that must be seriously addressed. The public health sector has in the past few years been characterised by strikes by doctors, nurses and other health workers demanding better remuneration and terms of service.

Indeed, there has been a strong feeling that the 47 counties were not quite ready when they were entrusted with public healthcare. But the relative industrial peace prevailing in the sector confirms that there is a commitment to make the system work, the various shortcomings notwithstanding.

When patients go to health facilities, all they are interested in is getting the services they deserve. They expect to be attended to by qualified health personnel and to be given the right medication. Whatever administrative hitches there may be is not their headache.

The Kenya Health Service Delivery Indicator Report on a survey conducted recently in some 3,095 health facilities across the country shows doctors in the public health sector recorded the highest rates of absenteeism, at 60.7 per cent. At 49.5 per cent, nurses and clinical officers also regularly skip duty. This means that some patients will be turned away because there are no health workers to attend to them. In the urban areas, some health workers fail to turn up after being granted permission to pursue further studies or to attend workshops. This is itself not a bad thing, so long as essential services do not grind to a halt when some of the staff are away from their stations.

The bulk of our population fully relies on public health facilities. This is because the private sector is not only tiny, but also largely unaffordable to the majority.

Health is an essential service, which needs to be fine-tuned for more efficient delivery of services.

The most crucial thing, therefore, is to improve access to healthcare for the majority, as a healthy population is a productive one.