Forget Al-Shabaab, the real terrorist is the health sector

Pius Maundu

@piusmaundu

Forget Al-Shabaab, the real terrorist is the health sector

 

Who knows if the ambulances we have seen governors parading for the press are not just emblazoned cars with siren?

Not so long ago, over 50 Kenyans died in Embu and Makueni counties after consuming poisonous liqour. Scores went blind. 

Before the victims could come to terms with the fact that they could be beggars for the rest of their lives, another batch of Kenyans in Eldoret succumbed to ale under similar circumstances. 

Beyond the ensuing furore, the deaths pointed at an incapacitated health system in Kenya. Or better yet, lack of an elaborate health care plan in Kenya. 

For the longest time now, the State has approached health care in a lackluster manner. Forget the antagonism on the devolution of the vital sector. 

From its budgeting, it is obvious that the State is ready to see more Kenyans die of manageable conditions. What else explains a mere 5% of the National Revenue going to the healthcare in the 2014/2015 financial year?

It should be noted that in 2001, 189 heads of states met in Abuja, Nigeria deliberating on ways of  improving on the social and economic conditions of their countries. 

Kenya is one of the states that signed the Abuja Declaration of 2001 a document which, among other elements, saw them commit 15% of their national budgets to the healthcare sector. 

One wonders whether the 5% allocation to healthcare sector points solely to the lack of wherewithal by the State. 

Poor facilitation and a myriad of lopsided policies is responsible for the wanton killing of Kenyans.

According to Dr. Borniface Chitayi, the only health facility that can handle methanol poisoning in Kenya is the sprawling Kenyatta National Hospital, KNH. 

Attempting to improve accessibility through devolution of healthcare, in its hurried form, has been nothing short of a pipe dream. Instead, this has been the devolution of poor service, and profiteering, marked by the disappearance of cost-sharing funds. 

Especially considering that the county leaders aren’t comfortable working with healthcare professionals to set up infrastructure. 

In the counties where healthcare workers were cowed into stage managing their compliance with devolved healthcare were the first to cry foul that they weren’t sure of the nature of their contracts with their new employers. 

Who knows if the ambulances we have seen governors parading for the press are not just emblazoned cars with siren? 

In the meanwhile, it is scary to imagine what would happen should Ebola strike. Perhaps the ubiquitous ambulances will come in handy, ferrying sickly Kenyans to their death beds. 

Obviously, all the sirens will be heading to KNH, an already overwhelmed facility. It has been wanting for eons. 

But who is willing to enhance the capacity of this facility anyway?

Politicians must have observed leerly on online photos of Jose Mujica, Uruguay’s president queuing

to be served in a public healthcare facility. What they are forgetting is that while they are capable of flying their kin and kith to India, their voters will continue drawing from public health facilities. 

Once you can afford to fly your wife to John Hopkins, it is easy to forget that you have relatives who will need public healthcare. 

But the beneficiaries of public healthcare has been numbed into being apathetic. This is what happens when the media lacks in objectivity. 

Aspiring leaders are seldom put to task on their policies on healthcare. It did not happen during the 2013 Presidential Debates. Instead land, described as the “elephant in the room,” took center-stage. 

And true to the premonition, land squabbles are giving leader across the political divide sleepless nights. But even while it is one of the theories pundits pulled on the terror attacks in Lamu and Tana River, it plays second fiddle. 

In its poor state, healthcare remains one of the greatest threats Kenyans are facing day in day out.