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(Special for CAFS) Kenya urges counties to invest more funds in healthcare facilities

Xinhua, June 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

Kenya's health officials have called on county governments to invest more funds in developing healthcare infrastructure to support devolution of health services.

Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) CEO Lily Koros said improving the quality of healthcare facilities will reduce financial and logistical pressure on the main referral hospitals in Kenya.

"When devolution came, many county governments bought ambulances instead of building capacity of health workers and infrastructure. This has heaped more pressure on the main referral hospitals in the country," Koros said Monday at the Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS) Day in Nairobi.

The KNH CEO said non-state organizations like MEDS were helping fill the gap in Kenya's medical supply chain by providing affordable and quality medicines and pharmaceuticals.

"For Kenya to achieve world-class healthcare status, there is need to bring on board various stakeholders and pool resources through public-private partnerships. MEDS has shown that the partnership can work," she said.

MEDS signed a strategic initiative with the counties in 2013 to supply medicines and build the capacity of healthcare workers.

"We have embraced private-public partnerships in our initiative with the counties, and this has seen counties purchase quality medicines and other pharmaceuticals from MEDS," said MEDS Managing Director Paschal Manyuru.

The medical supply organization, which has been at the forefront in the fight against counterfeit drugs through its UN World Health Organization (WHO) pre-qualified laboratory, holds annual customer fora in different parts of the country to discuss its operations and other activities affecting the health sector in Kenya.

Ruth Kitetu, who is in charge of policy Planning at the Ministry of Health, urged the county governments to strive and make devolved healthcare services a reality, saying that the challenges being faced now can only be addressed by the stakeholders speaking with one voice.

"The success of devolving healthcare services will largely be pegged on clarifying functions, establishing and sustaining strong working relationships between the two levels of government and other health stakeholders and embracing private-public partnerships," she said. Endi