Public hospitals in Kenya are in dire need of funding to rehabilitate, redesign, equip and staff them to ensure effective and efficient service delivery to Kenyans.
Low funding for Community Health Workers programme in the country (CHWs) has adversely affected the delivery of health services especially at the grass-roots.
Speaking during an official visit of the Gatundu District Hospital, Medical Services Minister Prof Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o said the government is committed to upgrade the infrastructure in public hospitals to meet ever changing challenges in health sector.
“For the last 25 years there has been little investment in health sector and it is only after the Narc government assumed power in 2003 that the sector was put into consideration through the economic stimulus program,” said Prof Nyong’o.
Most of the public hospitals in Kenya especially rural areas are in a sad state that has incapacitated them from offering efficient services to patients and to alleviate the deplorable condition proper measures must be taken into consideration.
Speaking in a separately occasion Dr. James Mwitari, Head of Division of Community Health Services in the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, also emphasized on the need for increased funding to recruit more Community Health Workers (CHWs) to cover more population and ensure efficiency.
Doctor Mwitari while attending Nyanza provincial Community Health Strategy stakeholders’ forum in Kisumu said adequate funding would help provide printed Community Health Information Strategy data collection tools and also motivate CHWs to work harder and contribute to overall successful health system.
