Kakamega County Government has hired ambulances equipped with necessary medical tools to provide efficient and high quality emergency services to residents.
Governor Wycliffe Oparanya said health provision is his priority and that is why he thought it prudent to lease the nine ambulances from the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) to provide emergency services to patients who cannot access health facilities and save lives.
The ambulances, hired at a cost of Sh600,000 monthly, traverse the county on a 24-hour basis to handle emergency cases in health centres, dispensaries and other health facilities as patients await proper and specialised treatment from either the Kakamega County Referral Hospital or others from outside the county. Consequently, at least 10 lives are saved daily.
Mr Oparanya said poor management of the emergency services by the previous regimes prompted him to hire the ambulances saying: “My administration has a keen interest to ensure provision of quality and standardised medical services”.
Free services
He added, “Our people have been suffering in the past because they are asked to provide money before they are transported. Drivers and other officers have also been mishandling the ambulances, forcing us to lease and putting KRCS in charge,” said Oparanya.
The governor has cited cases where public ambulances have been grounded, and lamented that the stalled vehicles have never been serviced to serve residents.
Oparanya revealed that the county intends to buy two ambulances. He, however, cautioned that ‘if our officers fail to handle them prudently, we will continue hiring’. According to Fredric Makokha, the Nursing Officer in-charge of referrals, KRCS has handled emergency cases effectively, thereby saving some 15,000 lives since the county started hiring the ambulances three years ago.
“The ambulances offer free services to our people. We only charge if the patient is referred to other hospitals elsewhere, for instance, Kenyatta National Hospital,” he said.
He said in the first phase the county government leased six ambulances before leasing three more in the second phase. “Our target is to have at least each of the 12 sub-counties have anambulance at the headquarters to handle emergency cases,” said Mr Makokha.
The ambulances cover 5,000 kilometres, saving lives that could have been lost due to lack of emergency rescue team. Expectant mothers top the list of beneficiaries.
“Our work is to call for an ambulance. Red Cross caters for the salaries of the paramedics, medicines, fuel, service and maintenance of the ambulance and tracking system,” Makokha said.
The Standard Group Plc is a
multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper
print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key
influence in matters of national and international interest.
join