Lack of proper facilities and poor working environment is to blame for the low quality service in public health facilities in Siaya county, area governor James Orengo has said.
Orengo who led a high powered county government team in a tour of Bondo sub county hospital Monday evening said apart from lack of adequate facilities, the health sector was also facing a serious shortage of the critical staff such as doctors.
He gave an example of Bondo sub county hospital which, he said, had only four doctors against a requirement of 15.
The governor, who was flanked by among others, Bondo member of parliament, Gideon Ochanda, deputy governor, William Oduol and the health and sanitation county executive committee member, Dismas Wakla lamented that mortuaries in all the public hospitals, save for Yala sub county hospital in Gem lacked cooling facilities to enable them preserve bodies.
“I am not happy that all level four hospitals in Siaya save for Yala have no proper mortuaries. They serve a huge population but without refrigeration,” he said.
Orengo however praised medical staff working in the morgues for going out of their way to adopt the use of chemicals to preserve bodies and keep the facilities clean.
He expressed his government’s commitment to improving services and assured Siaya residents that the perennial shortage of drugs will be a thing of the past, when the county receives its delivery of consignment from the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority in the next fortnight.
“The public is concerned about service in public hospitals and this must be addressed,” he said, adding that ‘we have managed to resolve the issue of supplies and things will be back to normal within the next two to three weeks.’
On his part, Ochanda said the locals had high expectations on the new county administration and challenged the governor to ensure that the health sector was improved.
Among the issues that plagued the facility, said the MP, was chronic water shortage and dilapidated infrastructure that required upgrading.
