Tana residents brace for tough times as county slashes health budget

 

Two months ago, Amina Khalif, who was scheduled for a caesarian section, almost died at Hola Referral Hospital.

The procedure was scheduled for 9pm and when the time came, she was asked to buy sutures (thread used to sew the wounds), Betadine solution and Savlon solution.

"The items were not in the hospital. We went searching at a private hospital and another in vain, and none would admit us as they could not perform the procedure," she says.

She went back to the Hola Referral at 2:40am and through the help of a health worker who owns a private hospital, show got the items.

The child was delivered safely but suffered a prolonged mental disorder owing to fetal distress.

It is a day the family will never forget, a nightmare that happened at the most unfortunate moment.

But the ghost is about to get real after the county government slashed Sh107 million from the operations and maintenance budget of the health department.

The proposed cuts come against a background of shortages that have over the years often prompted residents to flee to neighbouring counties for services. Hola Referral has suffered a shortage of drugs for the past eight months

In the 2020/2021 budget, the health department was allocated Sh430 million.

The department has struggled to maintain 10 ambulances that are held in various garages in the county because repair bills have not been paid.

The department has also been on the receiving end of criticism, accused of undermining healthcare services in villages by failing to fund health centres and dispensaries.

On several occasions, the renal unit and the CT-Scan centre have failed to offer services they lacked the equipment and materials vital for operations.

Dialysis patients have more than once been forced to seek services in Mombasa as the referral hospital lacked Heparin, Bi-cart, and acid concentrate.

An inadequate supply of essential drugs for anesthesia and other reagents has also seen health centres register more referrals.

Labs also lacked thermo papers for ultrasound while radiology centres did not have film cartridges.

Other challenges are an erratic supply of drugs by Kemsa owing to unpaid bills, and an inability to service electrical equipment such as generators and other equipment, which has in turn hurt operations of emergency services.

The most damning incident came barely two months ago when patients starved in hospitals because suppliers refused to deliver food items and routine food was not available.

With the current Sh323 million, the department is likely to suspend more services as it shifts attention from preventive and promotive health to curative and rehabilitative services.

The shift in focus is not realistic with the reduction in the budget, said Daud Dahir, the chairman of civil society groups in Tana River

"It is common knowledge that prevention is better than cure, therefore their priorities as of now are misplaced," he said.

He suggested that the county administration reduce the budget on projects to facilitate a budget focused on services.

With an allocation of Sh1.4 billion, the department will have a recurrent budget of Sh1.1 billion, a development budget of Sh250 million and Sh323 million for operations and maintenance   BY DAILY NATION