WAJIR, Kenya July 4 – Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi says his administration is grappling with theft of medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and essential medical items from various health facilities in the region.
Although Governor Abdullahi spends 40 percent of his annual budget on health care, health care providers alone consume a significant amount of Sh2 billion.
Speaking at the Wajir Afya House during the induction of 200 health workers, Governor Abdullahi said his government was also grappling with issues of staff presence at various workplaces.
He attributed the problems to the presence of ghost workers, which he said has a negative impact on service delivery.
“We are developing an automation plan for our human resources across all health facilities including the referral hospital in the county. This plan will also help in keeping track of medical supplies distributed to various hospitals in the county and will help in collecting our own generated revenue source,” Abdullahi said.
He explained that his administration has renovated the Wajir County Referral Hospital and that this hospital is to be upgraded to a level five hospital. 42 additional health facilities have been constructed and another 11 facilities renovated.
“The idea behind recruiting these health workers is to staff the facilities that have already been built with government money and ensure that they deliver the intended services. We are also building a Level Five hospital, which is visibly progressing, and I hope that it will be operational by December,” he said.
He said his government is at an advanced stage of upgrading eight level three health centres to level four hospitals.
This while revealing that he had asked his team in the region to draw up plans for upgrading additional level three health centres, built in Wajir South constituency with the help of the World Bank project, into level four hospitals.
“We have recruited 10 new physicians and 200 additional healthcare workers, including nurses, clinicians, radiologists, public health specialists and nutritionists. These recruits will be deployed to healthcare facilities across the region, bringing our healthcare workforce to more than 1,300,” he said.
Currently, there are 30 doctors working in Wajir County Referral Hospital, including 18 specialists. At the sub-county level, there are 6 medical officers, of whom 16 are currently on study leave. The county now has a total of 65 doctors.
“To further improve access to health care, we have operationalized new health facilities and upgraded health centers to level 4 hospitals. Today, I am pleased to announce that our government is hiring an additional 212 multidisciplinary health workers,” the governor said.
The Governor disclosed that his administration is constructing an ultra-modern emergency department at Wajir County Referral Hospital, setting up a satellite blood bank and mortuary and upgrading 8 health centres to level 4 hospitals.
In addition, he said, his administration has renovated and operationalized 52 health facilities in our 6 sub-counties.
“These initiatives have enabled us to provide advanced medical services closer to our communities, reducing the need for long journeys for specialized care,” he said.
He also said his government had streamlined the supply of drugs and non-pharmaceutical products through partnerships with both the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) and other suppliers, thus ensuring the availability of drugs in all corners of the country.
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