The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has challenged the government – both national and county – to invest in employing more doctors.
KMPDU North Rift officials say the country is facing an acute shortage of doctors, a situation that is worse in the region.
In a media briefing after an Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Eldoret town, the officials led by Dr Darwin Ambuka and Dr Kamonzi Mulei said the government need to employ all trained doctors and train more to address the challenge.
“West Pokot for example, with a population of 621,241 people, it has 38 doctors only. This is shocking and against the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended ratio of one doctor to 17,000 people,” noted Dr Abuka, KMPDU North Rift chairperson.
“The deficit cuts across all the North Rift counties,” he added.
The doctors’ union officials blame the current situation on poor policies and misplaced priority from the government side.
Further, they say the situation has been worsened with little funding that the government allocated to the Health Sector.
While the Abuja declaration, in which Kenya is a signatory requires at least 15 per cent allocation of the national budget to go to the sector, the country has only managed to allocate 5 per cent.
“How will we be able to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) with the 5 per cent allocation? How will we be able to strengthen the health sector?” asked KMPDU North Rift Secretary Dr Mulei.
Shortage of health specialists
Aside from the doctors’ shortage, the North Rift region is also facing an acute shortage of medical specialists.
In West Pokot, for example, KMPDU says, there is only one specialist – a gynaecologist, with Turkana having only two to serve the expansive county.
It is because of the ill-equipped health system that the doctors say Kenya has one of the highest mortality rates in Africa.
The mortality rate, KMPDU reveals, stands at 342 per 1,000 live births.
This is way higher than the United Nations (UN) acceptable mortality rate of less than 70 per 100 live births.
“We are in dire need of training more specialists and sub-specialists,” noted the North Rift KMPDU chairperson.
NHIF premiums
Concerning the government’s push to increase contributions to the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), the doctors say the NHIF board should first focus on reviving dormant accounts.
Under the proposal to review NHIF premiums, workers earning more than Kshh100,000 will be required to pay 1.7 per cent of their gross salary to the fund.
Currently, an individual with a Ksh100,000 pay slip pays Ksh1,700 to NHIF.
Contributions of workers earning Kshh200,000 will double to Ksh3,400, if the proposal sails, through while those pocketing Ksh500,000 will pay Ksh8,500 monthly – which is five times more than what they are paying.
“If we are not careful, we will pay more to NHIF for fewer services,” cautions KMPDU.
