For success of UHC, generate energy at the source

At the height of 2017 General Election madness, a miracle happened: The joy of a woman from Homa Bay County who gave birth to quintuplets.

Sadly, this turned into instant grief when two of them died almost immediately (at home). The three remaining Preemies (Pre-Term babies) were rushed to Kisii County Hospital and the third one died upon admission. The remaining two followed soon after in a case of pneumonia.

Quintuplets’ are very rare and only occur once in 55 million births. The reason for the deaths can be left to conjecture, but the fact is, lack of pre-natal follow-up; especially by marginalised and culturally subdued women in rural areas, contributed more than any emergency service could assist.

Referral hospitals bear the brunt of most pre-term babies for the simple reason that they have the necessary facilities (incubators, intensive care and round-the-clock power supply).

Kenyatta National Hospital have 50 per cent of births at the newborn unit being premature, most of them referral cases.

If the universal healthcare system is to work as per design, it behoves the county governments, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, to ensure dispensaries and maternal units are equipped to handle routine medical procedures from C-section and minor surgeries to ensuring pre-term babies are afforded with incubators.

The Constitution states that “every person has a right to the highest attainable standard of health.” It has wisely been acknowledged that the mark of a mature society is how it treats its most vulnerable; no one is more vulnerable than a pre-term baby.

The government’s Big Four Agenda focuses on Universal Health Coverage (UHC). This has a number of nuts and bolts, which include, appropriate service delivery (preventive, giagnostic, curative and community services), a skilled and motivated workforce, current and accessible information service and adequate health infrastructure.

It is on the infrastructure that UHC marries with the need for energy generated at the source. Why generated at the source, you may ask?

Most of the centres targeted for the pilot fall squarely in areas that are remote and marginalised. Kisumu, Nyeri, Isiolo and Machakos have significant populations that are in the proverbial last mile in terms of service delivery not only in health but in energy access. But the silver lining is that they receive above-average solar irradiance.

In Kisumu, for instance, there are about 15 blackouts a week. I shudder to imagine the number of blackouts in health centres like Ojolla in Kisumu West or Kombewa in Seme Constituency. Would the power delivery affect health services in these key centres? The answer is a definite Yes.

It is an issue of public notoriety that some key people entrusted with public finance administration and procurement create opportunities for rent-seeking in consumables such as drugs.

County governments have perfected this art, that is why a purchase of a generator would sound ideal to a hospital manager since it has a consistent cash flow in terms of fuel expenses.

We are well aware of police stations with vehicles but your emergency 999 calls to your nearest station will come with a rider, saidia serikali na pesa ya petroli.

It is for this reason that I implore the governors of Kisumu, Machakos, Isiolo and Nyeri; that while you pilot health, try ‘pilot energy’.

Solar energy will generate your energy needs for the next 25 years-fuel free, maintenance free, and corruption free as most credible solar firms provide service as a package.

Ms Hassan is the Kisumu branch manager for Solarnow Kenya, a renewable energy company.