Residents of Metkei ward in Keiyo South sub-county have appealed to the county government of Elgeyo Marakwet to address the biting shortage of health personnel in health facilities.
The residents said while the government has improved the provision of medical equipment, most of them have been lying idle as they have no one to operate them.
Joseph Kemboi a resident, cited the case of Kamwosor sub-county hospital saying despite the fact that they have a fully equipped theatre, no operations are conducted there since there’s no one to operate the equipment.
The residents who were speaking when the area governor Wisley Rotich presented an ambulance to the facility added that they also lacked doctors, nurses and other medical personnel thus affecting the delivery of health services.
According to Kemboi, residents from both Kabiemit and Metkei wards using funds allocated to health in the two wards decided to combine their allocation to purchase the ambulance saying they have been losing lives whenever they are referred to advanced facilities due to lack of an ambulance.
The residents said due to a lack of specialized personnel, they are often referred to other facilities where they are forced to wait for public transport to ferry seriously sick relatives to the referral facility.
At times they are forced to conduct harambees to enable them to raise enough money to hire private transport where the patient is critical and relatives are too poor to afford private transport.
Florence Chematia said she lost her brother after they took too long to get a matatu to ferry him to hospital while a mother lost her twins due to delays as they sought transport to a hospital in Ravine to give birth.
The governor said he will strive to ensure that health facilities are well equipped to handle patients as the country shifts to the Social Health Insurance fund which seeks to ensure equity and access to affordable health for Kenyans.
By Alice Wanjiru
