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Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia. [PHOTO: STANDARD/FILE]
By ANTONY GITONGA
NAIVASHA, KENYA: The government and the Council of Governors has held a crisis meeting and moved in to deny that there is a crisis in the health sector.
They downplayed the reported mass resignation by doctors terming it as a creation of the media and some quarters out to kill devolution.
This emerged when the governors and national government held a meeting in a Naivasha hotel organized by NHIF.
According to health cabinet secretary James Macharia, the country had over 3,300 doctors and only a few had resigned.
Macharia said that they were working with county governments to address the alleged resignation which he termed as minute.
The CS said that the national government was committed to devolution adding that so far 43,000 workers had been transferred to counties.
"Around 100 doctors have either resigned or gone for training but the issue has been blown out of proportion," he said.
Kisii governor James Ongwawe accused the media of causing unnecessary anxiety and crisis by misreporting the issue.
Ongwawe who is also the chairman of the human resources committee said that only a few doctors had resigned.
He said that county governments were improving terms and services of doctors and improving medical services at county levels.
"We have increased the number of medical equipment in county hospitals and we are seeking more doctors to employ," he said.
The governor praised NHIF for its role adding that some counties had agreed to set up a fund to cater for poor families in need of heath care.
"As governors we are committed to making sure that NHIF uptake goes up as this means improved health services for our people," he said.
On his part the chairman NHIF board Mohamed Maalim said that they would be working with county governments to be more effective.
He said that they were targeting to increase their members nationally from the current 4.5m to 25m in two years’ time.
"So far we have the World Bank sponsoring 300 poor people in all counties and our health insurance subsidy is on," he said.
The two day retreat has brought together governors, their deputies, NHIF staff and health executives from all the counties.
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