The government has been urged to bridge the discrepancy between clinical services and public health to minimize expenses on curative medicine and concentrate on preventive services, which has the capacity of achieving faster results than the former.
Nakuru Chief Officer for Health Dr Samuel King’ori said the role of public health specialists has been made evident and visible because of the important role, they have played in the containment of Covid-19 in the world.
He said all the precautionary measures including physical distancing, wearing masks and washing hands which have played an outstanding role in preventing the virus from spreading were ideas from public health experts.
Dr King’ori said the major lessons governments should learn from the pandemic is the importance of investing more in preventive than curative health services to achieve Universal Health Care faster.
He urged African governments to implement the 1978 Almata Declaration to save their citizens from the misery of preventable diseases such as upper pneumonia and diarrhoea since all that was required was a clean environment.
He noted that politicians mainly propagated curative medicine because they want something they can physically see such as mortuaries, ambulances and huge hospital buildings, which they use as campaign tools at the expense of their voters’ health.
“All that the human body requires to stay healthy is clean water, well-maintained sanitation areas, balanced diet and clean air, hospitalization becomes necessary when the former are not in harmony,’’ says King’ori.
He said Nakuru County was a good study example because since they started allocating Sh30 million for preventive measures to the sub-counties, they have noted a steady decline of diseases including admissions at health facilities. He was speaking to KNA in his office today.
By Veronica Bosibori
