The sadness, emptiness and weakened will of Kenyans to fight for themselves must be addressed. Kenyans must demand for proper services from the government. The tragedy that we see daily cannot be ignored. The dream of every Kenyan is to prosper, to see a day when everyone will have enough food, proper education, shelter and medical treatment.
To achieve all this we need proper health. We have to hold the view, that the health of Kenyans depends on the skill in the hands of health workers. That is why first and foremost health-workers should be the best paid in the country. They hold the key to life and death only second to God. They need to be empowered and to have adequate skills to stop our children, mothers, fathers, friends and spouses from dying. Our happiness depends on those who are close to us. We all have to advocate and fight for our health.
We fight and cry that we are not well attended to in hospitals. When the people who provide this services are looked down upon and paid peanuts. They are not even provided with the basic requirements to do their work. They have to run up and down, looking for other revenues to be able to take care of their loved ones.Its that bad, they are not paid enough even to be able to manage their basic needs. That's why everyone has to take a role in fighting for improvement of healthcare in Kenya. Today it is me, but tomorrow it will either be you, your best friend or relative in this circumstances with poor amenities and demotivated service providers. They will die before you eyes, with a helpless doctor/nurse consoling you.
We have to call upon all health workers to rise up against this challenge. They have to set the pace for Kenyans to join them in the clamor for improvement. They have to stop the downward spiral in healthcare provision. People should not die in hospitals in the name of no facilities, no drugs or the absence of service providers. Health workers must rise up and give direction to healthcare. They must say rightly, and insist on correction of everything that has gone wrong. The state has to address health issues directly and stop hiding behind the face of devolution. As a matter of urgency, the state and parliament should set up a Health Service Commission to streamline service delivery. In addition to that, should re-allocate enough funds to set up proper infrastructure in all counties.
The pretense at providing free maternity healthcare must be condemned and rejected. Its not a worthy project but a populist political carrot/idea to delude Kenyans into more trouble. Free maternal healthcare require enough well motivated and remunerated staff in addition to proper infrastructure to make it successful. We lack all this and our leaders lost it by projecting and ratifying a measly budgetary allocation to healthcare. Not one member of parliament had a brain to think straight and ask about this. Our leaders must come back to their senses, in both legislature and government. It will require a hard knock to wake them up from this slumber. A major protest and a bold statement from stake holders will do that. Even in the form of an industrial action.They are surely out of this world and only an accident and a fatal one will bring them to reality.
The structures in our management cannot bring out this deficiency and advocate for enough funds. Therefore it remains a prerogative of the providers to give direction and to say that this profession is being choked. Yes, medical profession is being choked and is dying. Its only in Kenya where a Councillor( county representative, a section of a constituency) is tipped to earn more than kshs 440000, when a Professor is earning kshs 100 000 and a doctor is earning only kshs 40 000! Our members of parliament are earning more than Kshs 1 000 000.Its not a soap opera. And believe me, with all these, there is a mother in Jomvu slums, Mombasa who cannot afford insulin. I hope she is still alive. I really hope so.
Today I was talking with three of my doctor friends who told me categorically that they are now days away from relocating to other countries, there are no prospects in this here.Not as a threat, but a real plan. It does not make sense to study for seven years to work for your country, only to be treated in a manner that does not inspire respect and to be paid like someone who dropped out of primary school. Its better to go where one is respected. Kenya is losing professionals especially in Medicine at alarming rates due to this mediocre tendencies in government. Health workers must be paid well, salaries commensurate with the work they do to stop this.
The time is ripe for health workers to assert their authority and insist on taking their rightful role in the countries growth, plans and future. This position can only be taken by force, the current dispensation does not recognize professionalism. This is not an incitement, but a true reflection of the redemption in healthcare that this country needs. It is the system that denies healthcare the ability to grow as the other sectors. Because of that, the war of redemption has to be waged. There is no fear in demanding for recognition. A rightful recognition and rewards that come with the roles, obligations and services extended.
Health care workers have to create a niche, a niche for themselves just like workers in other sectors. They have to begin demanding for what is right in this sector. Things must change. Yes, things must change. This is a distinct sector that requires seriousness and decorum.
DO NOT BE AFRAID, IT IS A FIGHT FOR A GOOD COURSE.
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