Editor ’ s Note
All is not lost though
But not all county governments have experienced the industrial unrest . For instance , Kericho , Wajir and Turkana counties are among those that are doing well in terms of managing their human resource .
In the same light , Kiambu County ’ s governor William Kabogo recently revealed that the county had invested in training specialists doctors to improve their pool .
All this is good . Something that every county should emulate . But a permanent solution to the perennial problem must also be sought .
Whereas the medical profession is viewed as an elite profession , many do not seem to acknowledge this aspect and therefore leads to lack of appreciation of medics .
To do so , the National and County governments need to sit and rethink the deployment , remuneration and promotion of health care workers .
For KMPDU ’ s Secretary General Dr Ouma Oluga , the solution lies in increasing health workers ’ pay and establishing a Health Service Commission ( Hsc ).
“ The commission will address issues of employment , deployment and disciplinary cases of workers and is the permanent solution to this problem ,” says Dr Oluga .
But others hold a different opinion . The Parliamentary Health Committee chairperson Dr Rachel Nyamai says that the commission may not be a viable solution .
To her , a commission will be against the constitution and there is need to critically think about it before making rush decisions .
She says : “ The health crisis in this country is not a new story . However , as much as we have called for the function to be returned to the National government , article 187 is not being addressed because governors are not ready to give back the function .”
While devolution of healthcare services as a model is praised for delivering results in many settings the world over , the case for Kenya has created unique contextual challenges . These impediments must be identified and tackled for the benefits of devolution of healthcare to benefit the population .
In our opinion , if the continuing industrial action by healthcare personnel is not urgently arrested , all gains made in the past to improve the health of the Kenyan population to what has been recently will all be lost , if this has not happened already .
Leadership of the county government must wake up to this reality and move away from a position of denial and selfishness to proactively address this matter . Admittedly , there will be gains and losses when finally , this matter is settled ; the county governments may have to swallow a humble pie and accept that they cannot manage healthcare personnel at the counties , give up this responsibility together with the associated budgets and retain the rest of the health including facility management and procurement of commodities .
To actualize this reality , consideration may be given for creation of an autonomous body akin to the Teachers Service Commission to manage human resources functions including recruitment , deployment , promotion , transfers and discipline of healthcare personnel .
It is therefore time that the Ministry of Health , parliament , county governments and other stakeholders woke up and faced the elephant in the room . www . healthbusiness . co . ke
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