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Patients in Siaya County are being forced to seek treatment in private hospitals due to drug shortage, among other things, in public facilities.
Inadequate qualified health workers in the public health centres complicates matters for the sick.
Several people have raised concerns over the issues.
Due to poverty, many patients take long before accessing medication, as they look for money to buy the drugs prescribed to them.
Ken Onyango from Jera in Ugenya complained that last month he was forced to spend more money to buy drugs despite having the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) cover due to lack of drugs in the public hospital he visited.
“Despite having the medical cover, I could not get drugs from Jera health facility and I had to part with a lot of money to buy the typhoid drugs in a pharmacy outside the dispensary. It becomes expensive for us when there are no drugs,” said Mr Onyango.
DIALYSIS MACHINE
A spot check in health facilities in Gem, Ugenya and Alego Usonga sub-counties revealed that indeed there was a major drugs shortage.
A health worker in the county referral hospital said apart from drug shortage there is a problem with equipment use. The employee cited the dialysis machine which is in disuse due to lack of trained personnel.
The county referral hospital has only 75 nurses against the required number of 200 while there are only five medical officers to serve the entire hospital.
County Director of Health Samwuel Omondi, however, downplayed claims of drug shortage, saying there was enough drugs to last them until the next supply; this month.
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