Governor Goes Big On Plan To Revamp County Healthcare Sector
Governor Joshua Irungu has announced a raft of measures to improve the county's healthcare sector immediately after he assumes office.
In his Inauguration Speech Thursday last week in Nanyuki, the governor spoke heavily on his plans to establish a robust healthcare provision environment, with investments cutting across human and capital resource inputs expected to take effect almost immediately.
Top on his healthcare agenda is the reinstatement of doctors who were sacked in 2019, with this expected to take immediate effect.
This team is expected to be strengthened through the expansion of specialist staff who will be engaged on a permanent and pensionable basis. This will go hand in hand with robust staff promotion and welfare programs to boost the output of the workforce.
We are prepared to foot whatever cost it takes to have the doctors back because no amount of money can buy back life.
H.E. Governor Irungu said.
The plan also included raising the funding to all healthcare outlets for facility improvement and reliable availability of services. To enable this, the Governor has directed the release of the funds to the facilities beginning in September 2022. The governor hopes to push for the enactment of the Laikipia County Health Act 2014, a legislative piece that seeks to improve funding and performance of health facilities.
Going forward, hospitals will be given authority to incur expenditure, meaning they will be allowed to plow back revenue generated to enable uninterrupted service flow.
Also on the agenda is the plan to establish 24-hour NHIF accredited centers in each of the 15 wards to coordinate better referrals.
H.E. the Governor is also banking on Laikipia Ambulance and Rescue Bill which he plans to sponsor through the Assembly to offer free ambulance and emergency services to the people across the county.
H.E. Governor Irungu also promised to boost medical training with the opening of the Kenya Medical Training College Nanyuki Campus in his first 100 days in office. On this, the government will negotiate with the medical college to allocate more slots to local students, with the same benefiting from county scholarships throughout training.
