DAILY NATION

Monday July 20, 2015 StateofHealth Special Report 21

TAITA-TAVETA >> Region has allocated Sh202.5 million to boost projects

Alarm over
County enjoys fruits of its labour surge in HIV
infections
BY EUNICE KILONZO
Governor BY REBECCA OKWANY
Mruttu has @beckyakinyi Compared to the national
average of 5.8 per cent, the HIV
rokwany@ke.nationmedia.com
embarked

I
on a plan t took criticism by a
US agency to put Taita-
to build Taveta Governor John
nine Mruttu on a mission
that would lead to a
stand- drastic improvement in health
alone services and reduction in the
number of maternal deaths.
maternity That journey started with
hospitals an analysis by United States
in all Agency for International De-
velopment (USAid) on health
the sub- budget allocations of county
counties governments. The report
said that in the 2013 budget,
by 2017 Taita-Taveta was among coun-
ties that had spent the least
amount of their allocation on
health.
And in the ranking of coun-
ties with the highest rate of
maternal deaths in 2013, Taita-
Taveta was ranked at 11 out of
the 14 worst performers, with
603 mothers in every 100,000
births dying from birth compli-
cations.
The USAid report said
pregnant women were opt-
ing to give birth at home be-
cause hospitals were poorly
equipped. This, however,
exposed them to other risks
that could not be adequately
handled by traditional birth
attendants.
Horrified by the findings,
Governor Mruttu embarked
on an ambitious plan to build
The people nine stand-alone maternity
of Taita are hospitals in all the sub-coun-
ties by 2017.
headed for Although healthcare workers
Taita-Taveta Governor John Mruttu, who has embarked on a campaign to build maternity hospitals to improve
the quality of health care in his county.
nity units has been ongoing at
Mwatate Sub-district Hospital,
Buguta and Werugha health
centres and Sagaigu Dispen-
sary. Another maternity block
at Marungu Health Centre was
in the retendering process last
month.
County Health Executive
Gifton Mkaya told Nation
the county allocated Sh202.5
million to the department
of health for development
projects, more than double
the Sh92.5 mllion allocated in
2013.
Mr Mkaya said: “The people
of Taita are headed for quality
and affordable healthcare in a
few years to come”.
The money spent seems to
be changing lives. Data from
the county’s baseline survey
in January to April shows that
the number of maternal deaths
recorded in hospitals had
dropped significantly com-
pared to the period between
July and December, 2014. The
number of immunised children
had also risen from 3,831 to
4,018 while skilled deliveries
in hospitals rose by 67 per cent
to 3,232 births.
Voi, the town that hosts the
county’s referral 112-bed Moi
Sub County Hospital has a
tarmacked road, meaning that
patients have one more incen-
tive to seek treatment there.
However, challenges abide.
FILE | NATION
have come from surgery are
the same that handle the other
patients. That is not safe,
especially for patients who
have been operated on,” Dr
Mwasaru said.
The Nation team noted that
patients with infectious dis-
eases like TB were not prop-
erly isolated. They occupied a
corridor-like space in the hos-
pital but still shared toilets and
bathrooms with other patients
as well as nurses.
This hospital also has one
theatre, yet it attends to pa-
tients from as far as Makindu,
which is about 150km from
Voi.
The lack of hospitals ex-
plains why the county offi-
prevalence in Bomet is within
a bearable margin of 5.6 per
cent.
The problem is that there
are many new infections in the
region.
At the Longisa County Hos-
pital Voluntary Counselling
Testing Centre in Bomet town,
three to five new HIV infections
are reported daily.
According to the nurse in
charge, Ms Anita Biwott of the
Comprehensive Care Clinic, 30
to 40 new infections are reported
each month.
Majority of the cases are
boda boda riders and women
over 30.
“We see about 50 people visit
the clinic daily. That is about
1,000 a month. The new infec-
tions are alarming,” says Ms
Biwott.
An agricultural town with
a population of 824,347, the
number of HIV patients stands
at 27,989, a figure that is likely
to rise by a further 2,000 by the
end of the year if the county’s
HIV Prevention Road Map is
There are many
local brewers
here who give
customers drinks

quality and and patients did not feel that
affordable enough had been done, there
was a feeling of optimism in
healthcare in the county government.
a few years to So far, three blocks have been
come,”
completed at Modambogho
Health Centre, Kiwalwa and
County Health Mahandakini dispensaries. All
have been operational since
Executive
Gifton Mkaya February 19.
Constructions of mater-
202m
Amount, in shillings, Taita-Taveta
County has allocated to the
department of health for develop-
ment projects, more than double
allocated in 2013
Though classified as a level
four hospital, it has only two
wards rather than the mini-
mum four.
Dr Noel Mwasaru, the hos-
pital’s former medical super-
intendent, told Nation patients
were sharing wards, raising
fears of cross-infections.
“The nurse that attends
to the wounds of those who
cials spent a lot of money on
construction. About Sh121.2
million was used for construc-
tion and civil works, which in-
cluded hospital buildings and
staff houses.
Another Sh77.8 million was
used to buy and instal medical
equipment while Sh350,000
was used to buy furniture and
non-medical equipment.
in exchange for sex. In
the drunkenness, some
rape their daughters or
neighbours’ children,”
Ms Anita Biwott, nurse in
charge of Longisa County
Hospital VCT Centre
anything to go by.
Ms Biwott says there is always

and retain doctors and other qualified workers
have become disillusioned with the
profession.
“Most of us are already looking
for a way out, either by going back
to school or by seeking opportunities
elsewhere,” said one.
South Africa and Botswana have
proven particularly popular with
the young doctors who have been
flying out to seek better opportuni-
ties there.
Besides the staff haemorrhage,
the medical brain drain has come at
a steep financial cost to the country.
According to a study titled “The
Cost of Health Professionals Brain
Drain” published in the Biomed Cen-
tral Journal in 2006, it costs Sh6.5
million to educate a doctor from
primary school to university.
If that doctor leaves to work in
another country, the country loses
Sh50 million worth of return on
investment.
Apart from the obvious human re-
source malpractices such as disputes
over remuneration, county govern-
ments’ relationship with doctors has
deteriorated in disagreement over
priority of expenditure on matters
of health.
In Mombasa, one of the counties
hardest hit by healthcare workers’
strikes, the health professionals
blamed delays in salaries, constant
interference and threats from the
county government for the frequent
AT A GLANCE
High turn-over of medics is costly
According to a study titled “The
Cost of Health Professionals Brain
Drain” published in the Biomed
Central Journal in 2006, it costs
Sh6.5 million to educate a doctor
from primary school to university.
If that doctor leaves to work in
another country, the country loses
work stoppages.
In Taita-Taveta, healthcare workers
applauded the construction of dispen-
saries but the question of who will
work there have not been adequately
addressed.
More knowledgeable
“We always get surprised along with
the patients at these ‘amazing’ county
government interventions”, said one
Sh50 million worth of returns on
investment.
Over 2,000 doctors have quit the
public health system since last year,
according the secretary-general of
the Kenya Medical Practitioners,
Pharmacists and Dentists Union.
doctor at the Moi Hospital, Voi.
While health remains a critical
component of achieving Vision 2030
and has been cited as a key pillar for
a stable economy, the country has
continually shown apathy towards
health workers.
Basic salaries for most young doc-
tors, who may work for as long as
16 hours a day, stands at less than
Sh40,000.
A 2013 survey by the Ministry of
Health and the World Bank ranked
Kenyan healthcare workers as more
knowledgeable compared to their
counterparts in the region. This has
made them more attractive to other
countries.
At least 80 per cent of Kenyan
healthcare workers can diagnose
common health conditions and have
sufficient knowledge of how to handle
them but as the old adage goes, God
smiles when He sees there work but
weeps when He sees their pay.
a rise in infections that coincides
with the high tea sales season.
Once tea farmers earn their
money, they often get into a
festive mood and embark on
hedonistic sprees, she says.
“Once they get infected they
go back to their wives who may
not be aware and get infected as
well,” she says.
Local brews add to the lethal
cocktail of what predisposes
residents to infections.
“There are many local brew-
ers here who give customers
drinks in exchange for sex. In
the drunkenness, some rape
their daughters or neighbours’
children,” she says.
According to Ms Biwott, the
youngest patient to test positive
for HIV was eight years while the
oldest was 81.
Fortunately, there is a level
of awareness in the region as
evidenced by the high number
requests for Post Exposure
Prophylaxis — the short-term
antiretroviral treatment taken
after possible exposure to HIV.