Gaps To Cost Lives: A Closer Look At Kenya’s Poor Healthcare System

The coronavirus outbreak has caused Africans to refocus their priorities and unlike previously when political leaders would be flown to developed countries to save their lives, the killer virus denies them that luxury.

Kenya’s leaders have been worst-hit by the reality that they cannot fly out to save their lives unlike previously and are familiarizing themselves with the poor state of the country’s health systems amid a very short notice provided by the COVID-19 spread.

Ironically, even President Uhuru Kenyatta admits that the country has a poor healthcare system despite him nearing the end to his second tenure in office as President and Kenyan lives are at stake.

Unashamed, President Uhuru Kenyatta addressed the nation on his eighth address to the nation since the first Coronavirus case was reported and publicly admitted that the country’s healthcare system was too poor that the Ministry of Health was already looking into discharging Coronavirus asymptomatic patients to decongest.

President Uhuru’s admission that counties such as Siaya had only managed to put up a 10-bed capacity to admit Coronavirus patients after three months of the country having reported a Coronavirus case was a clear admission of failure in his administration that would cost the country lives.

“One, to open up, the infections must have been contained and headed downwards. Two, our health care system must be prepared sufficiently to take on a surge in infections. It must not be overwhelmed at any one point during the pandemic,” President Uhuru said.

“Access to testing, isolation, and quarantine must be a bare minimum. Three, capacity for surveillance and contact tracing must be in place. The question we must ponder is whether we have met this threshold in order to lift the restrictions,” President Uhuru added.

“Have the cases of infections taken a downturn, for instance? And the answer is NO. Nairobi and Mombasa are taking the lead with new infections. Have we met the second minimum of a prepared health system with isolation facilities? I will answer that question by giving you two examples,” President Uhuru went ahead to give the Siaya example.

“Siaya County has a ten (10) bed isolation facility and they have already admitted nine (9) Coronavirus patients from only one incident.
Similarly, Busia County has a thirty-four (34) bed isolation facility. And by two days ago, it was full. 19,” the President said to the fear of many.

“If there is a surge in infections in these two counties, the healthcare system will be overwhelmed. The hard question to pose here, therefore, is whether Kenyans are prepared to nurse COVID-19 patients in their homes if our health care system cannot handle the numbers,” Uhuru noted.

As a Kenyan, the idea of having to nurse a coronavirus patient at home is enough to cause panic as the exposure and risk to lives it creates to all those around us cannot be ignored and is further escalated by the lack of no-why.

Kenya’s Healthcare System Into Depth: Number of Registered Facilities Versus Facilities Tackling Coronavirus

Kenya has an estimated 10,000 Healthcare facilities gazetted by the 20th of February 2020 according to the Kenya Gazette and the issue is actually not in the number of facilities but in whether these facilities are simply shells or well-equipped facilities to save lives.

At a population of slightly above 50 million, it goes without saying that it is indeed ridiculous for a government to claim to be delivering as in the scenario of an outbreak, the purpose of the 10,000 healthcare facilities is diminished just as has been by the current Coronavirus outbreak.

Most ludicrous is that according to the Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, Kenya only has 35 health facilities equipped to handle Coronavirus patients in the country and with an already 2200 positive cases, the Ministry is already citing congestion and is seeking to discharge asymptomatic patients to be cared for at home.

Currently, Kenya reports between 80-167 Coronavirus cases with the numbers projected to peak in September 2020 which is three months from now, if in the last three months Counties have managed to prepare less than a 50-bed capacity with counties such as Siaya having only ten then Kenya is headed to a much worse crisis.

What the Ministry of Health means when it reports that coronavirus numbers shall peak at around the month of September 2020 is that the country is likely to be reporting hundreds of positive cases and tens of deaths if not hundreds in 24 hours, hence the deal to reopen schools is mere wishful thinking to keep Kenyans hopeful.

For a country to claim to have 35 health facilities set aside to handle Coronavirus patients and the President to address and reveal that one of the counties have a mere 10-bed-capacity, then questions on how well-equipped is Kenya to fight the Coronavirus spread and this is a question that should weigh heavily on every Kenyan as it has been said numerously, the fight is personal for each one of us.

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