Residents of West Pokot County showed up at Mtelo Hall in Kapenguria for a public participation forum organised by the Ministry of Health to give their inputs on the Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Bill 2025 amid fears of the anticipated countrywide demonstrations over the death of young people during last year’s anti-government protests.
The participants drawn from members of the public, organisations and officials from both the county and national governments expressed their delight over the policies that were being developed in the Bill saying it will help streamline the health services across board.
They however registered their resentments over what they claimed was unsatisfactory health services that public health facilities were offering citing laxity and complacency among some staff.
“From the contents of the Bill it shows that the government is keen on uplifting the standards of health services across the country because it advocates for best practices for anyone willing to engage in provision of health services. However, some of our health facilities seem not to adhere to the required professional standards when offering their services,” said Solomon Kibet.
Kibet noted that there have been complaints from those seeking services from public facilities hence the need for the Bill to consider ways of assessing the performance of every health facility which calls for creating special teams at the village levels to document people’s complaints.
The participants lamented over what they said was accessibility of outpatient services using the SHA cover noting that most facilities in the region had been denied the services.
“It is disturbing that when one visits private facilities you are told they only allow inpatient services which has made most people go digging into their own pockets to get treated. Let it be mandatory that any facility that is SHA accredited should offer both inpatient and outpatient services,” exclaimed Samuel Rotino, noting that the outpatient services are the most sought service.
On her part West Pokot Health and Sanitation Chief Officer Mrs. Nelly Soprin lauded the policies highlighted in the Bill noting that it will assist county governments offer quality health services.
Mrs. Soprin however disclosed that the county was still leading in child mortality rates attributing it to high illiteracy levels and child pregnancies.
“It is disturbing that our county is second in cases of child pregnancy countrywide and this is one of the causes of child mortality and fistula among young mothers,” said the Health CO.
She cited insufficient budgets for health services, hence inadequate health staff to handle the increasing health needs from residents due to the dynamics of the health services.
“Since our administration took over in 2022, health workers are still few, especially in our local health centres. However, health is dynamic and although we have160 health workers we are soon pooling in 234 more,” said the Health CO.
She made a rallying call to residents to enlist for SHA noting that the uptake is still very low with some participants mentioning that some residents lack basic requirements such as ID card and mobile phones needed for successful registration into the system.
By Richard Muhambe
