Nyeri residents dismiss report ranking county's healthcare as best in Kenya

Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua and county officials tour the county referral hospital’s dental wing on December 4, 2015 where five dental chairs were reported not to be working. Some residents have dismissed a recent report that ranked the county’s healthcare system as the besk in Kenya. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

• They said they have been visiting various public hospitals in the county and things are not as rosy as they were said to be in the report.
• The report indicated that Nyeri also has the highest number of doctors and nurses in the country.
• However, the report got support from some quotas.
• A resident said there is no one who lives more than 25km from a hospital in Nyeri, or more than eight Kilometres from a health centre, or more than five kilometres from a dispensary.

Some residents of Nyeri have dismissed a report that ranked their county’s healthcare systems as the best and demanded that the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) orders a fresh survey of health facilities and seek their input.

The residents have termed a report that Nyeri has the best health services as biased and a ‘sick’ one.

Under the Citizen Initiatives group, they said attendance in public hospitals has reduced over time in the county, with most people complaining about lack of many basic facilities and essential drugs.

“Health services are not assumed nor insinuated, they are supposed to be seen and felt,” said the group’s chairman Wambugu Nyamu.

Addressing journalists at West Wood hotel in Nyeri Town, the group, which also comprised grassroots leaders from the county’s six constituencies, said they have been visiting various public hospitals in the county and things are not as rosy as they were said to be in the report.

“We were at the county referral hospital last week where we discovered that of the 10 dialysis machines bought last year, only two are operational.

“Patients to the supposedly best MRI centre are being referred elsewhere, laboratories reagents and chemical are in short supply and essential drug are scarce.

“Whereas we agree the health workers are present, consultation alone does not constitute best health services,” they said in their statement.

The survey, which evaluated operational frameworks of the health facilities in the county, was conducted in collaboration with the Nyeri County government and support from the Danish International Development Agency (Danida).

MEDIA REPORTS

The survey was triggered by frequent media reports on the mistreatment of patients seeking healthcare services in different public health facilities around the county.

The report indicated that Nyeri also has the highest number of doctors and nurses in the country.

The ratio of nurses to the population is 1:654, which is way above the national proportion of 1:2,054, while that of doctors is 1:5,000, which is also higher than the national ratio of 1:25,000.

The report said 80 per cent of respondents said they received all the services recommended by the health workers for their conditions, and only 12 per cent of patients reported that they did not receive services because the service was unavailable (3.7 per cent) or unavailability of some drugs (2.6 per cent).

Absence of staff accounted for 2.6 per cent, lack of equipment 1.8 per cent and lack of referral service 1.3 per cent, according to the report.

However, the report got support from some quotas.

A resident said there is no one who lives more than 25km from a hospital in Nyeri, or more than eight Kilometres from a health centre, or more than five kilometres from a dispensary.

“We have PGH, Karatina, Mukurwe-ini, Othaya, Naromoru, Mweiga, Mathari and Tumutumu. We are blessed as a county.

“Almost 97 per cent of mothers deliver in hospitals while the national average has been 46 per cent. In some places, I think we have more than necessary dispensaries,” commented one Kwai Wanjaria on his Facebook page.