Murang’a County government will send a team of medical practitioners to Spain to undertake specialised training.
Area governor Mwangi wa Iria said his administration will draw a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Spanish government which will facilitate specialised training to some of the local doctors in various fields.
Wa Iria said this after a group of doctors from Spain pitched camp at Maragua level 4 hospital to offer free surgical services.
The governor observed on Tuesday that Spain has assisted a lot in terms of offering free health services especially to Murang’a residents.
For the last four years, the doctors have been visiting Maragua Hospital once a year to offer free surgical services to patients not only from the county but also from all over the country.
“By December this year we will send a group of nurses and doctors to a Spanish university to specialise in areas which have few medical specialists in the country. On the field of surgery, we have few doctors and we need more so as to offer the needed services in our hospitals,” noted Wa Iria.
“In Murang’a we want to increase number of theaters to 10 so as to take the services to the grassroots and relieve patients from traveling for long distances to get surgical services among the six theaters across the county.”
He lauded the Spanish doctors who have been visiting the county to offer free surgery to patients with tumors among other growths.
This year the doctors will visit the county twice after the number of patients who are in need of surgery soared.
“The doctors arrived on July 7 and they will offer surgical services up to July 12 as we are expecting them to visit the hospital in September this year,” said the officer in charge of Maragua Hospital, Dr. Stephen Ngige.
Dr.Ngige added that since the visiting doctors arrived, more than 200 patients have undergone surgery and those who are register for the services are more than 2,000.
He decried increased cases of cervical and breast cancer saying per week the hospital receives more than 50 patients with the cancer related conditions.
“The surgery offered by the Spanish doctors is very expensive for a common mwananchi to afford, but we appreciate the Spanish government for giving 18 doctors who are helping us to offer free surgeries. In complicated conditions the doctors are referring the patients to their health facilities free of charge,” explained Ngige.
The attended patients, Ngige added are coming from as far as Mombasa noting that for a long time the hospital has been of big relieve for patients who need surgery.
Meanwhile, Wa Iria underscored the need for revamped health sector saying this can only be achieved by allocating more funds to devolved units.
He expressed concern on the standoff between the Senate and National Assembly wondering why the latter want to reduce funds being sent to county governments.
“I appeal for the standoff to be solved and have counties get their allocations as currently some projects have been halted due to lack of resources,” noted Wa Iria.
By Bernard Munyao
Murang’a government to send medical practitioners for more training in Spain
