B_kind

Choosing kindness, one day at a time 🇰🇪

[Eric @amerix]

GRAPHIC PHOTOS:

There is a trending conversation on Kenyan X about the deteriorating Public Health System.

This is a conversation that never ends.

The public health system gets worse every year because we have allowed politicians to infiltrate the health system.

Governors, Senators and MCAs influence the structure, resources and frameworks that govern the public health sector.

They decide who receives supplies, who receives resources and what framework runs the system. All this is to siphon resources allocated to the delivery of public health services.

They cripple our health sector, but when they fall sick, they fly abroad.

The photos you are seeing were taken by me back in 2019 when I was heading a public hospital.

This woman had been assaulted by her husband after an evening quarrel because of food.

When she came to the emergency department, her ear was dangling like a soot strand hanging precariously from my grandmother's hut.

In the emergency department, at the minor theatre, in the emergency tray:

• There were no stitching needles or surgical sutures.

• There were no sterilised packs.

• There was no lignocaine for local anaesthesia.

I had no choice but to fix her earlobe.

This was the time when NHIF revenue allocation had just been transferred from the Hospital Management Team to the County Treasury, where County Officials decided who, when, and how much hospitals would receive to fund their budgets.

So, because there were no supplies, I had to beg the maternity matron for them, promising to replenish them.

I did the work. I fixed the earlobe and discharged her.

She didn't have any money with her, which was, of course, obvious, given the family's disagreement over food.

So, I had to dip into my pocket to buy Lignocaine, sutures and Jik to sterilise the pack I had borrowed.

The public health system has been in a mess because self-serving politicians distorted the spirit of devolving the health function.

These politicians spend county resources on buildings, aesthetics, decor, colour, and public relations exercises, except for the basics like:

• Adequate supplies.

• A motivated health care staff.

• A reliable and accessible system.

Unless we overhaul the entire system of political brinkmanship and wheeler-dealers,

Unless we say enough is enough and commit ourselves to draining the swamp,

Unless we stop glamorizing corruption,

Unless we stop sterilizing negative ethno-chauvinist politicians,

Unless we stop pretending to detest corruption, yet when it favours us, we say it is "God's Grace,"

— We shall continue gnashing our teeth, year in and year out.

The people who are silent when doctors, clinicians, nurses and other healthcare staff are complaining about dwindling public health services are the same people who silently collude with corrupt politicians to supply substandard resources in our public hospitals.

CHANGE or PERISH

#BetterTogether

[Peterson Wachira HSC @ptason]

Every sub-county theatre in Marsabit is CLOSED; in Moyale — patients are going to Ethiopia 🇪🇹
In Laisamis — referrals are sent to Isiolo & Meru
This is not a staffing inconvenience. This is a humanitarian failure.#endclinicalofficersstrike

------------------------------------
Before the strike: 15,700 outpatients/month.
During the strike: 700.
That's a 95.5% collapse in outpatient care.
Inpatient admissions dropped 88%.
Overall health service utilisation fell 94.8%.
@GovMohamudAli @HealthMarsabit — this is what workforce neglect looks like.
#endclinicalofficersstrike
-----------------------------------
Clinical Officers are the backbone of Kenya's primary healthcare. When their welfare is ignored, communities pay irreversibly.
Marsabit County Government seems not to care about the wellbeing of its citizens leave alone health care workers.
@GovMohamudAli @ChuteSen @MbtAssembly @HealthMarsabit — honour your workforce.
#EndClinicalOfficers strike
-----------------------------------
Marsabit health system has collapsed and the people tasked to with people's mandate don't seem to care.
It is setting the worst example of how a system can be failed by leadership failure.
We call upon the people of Marsabit to speak up and ask for reversal of health function in Marsabit County to National Government.

@A_S_Nassir @citizentvkenya @KTNNewsKE @AlinurMohamed_ @kot @KoinangeJeff @HonAdenDuale @KenyaGovernors @Belive_Kinuthia @Eastleighvoice

[Kenya Union of Clinical Officers @kUCOofficial]

When governance fail, hardworking citizens pay, sometimes with their own lives

[B_kind @born_bkind]

156 days and counting...

[Bomita @BonfaceMbaka]

It's so shameful that 63 years after independence National Government of Kenya.. 13 years after devolution in Marsabit county..Poor Citizens of Kenya have to seek healthcare services in Neighboring Countries Ethiopia..@WilliamsRuto, @_KithureKindiki, @koske_felix, @HonAdenDuale

[B_kind @born_bkind]

156 days and Counting...

[KTN News @KTNNewsKE]

Marsabit County's healthcare system is on the verge of total collapse as a strike by clinical officers enters its 151st day, triggering a humanitarian crisis where newborns are dying and residents are crossing into Ethiopia seeking medical attention.
#KTNPrime

[B_kind @born_bkind]

@KTNNewsKE 151 days of neglect from those meant to protect, Devolution - County Leadership 😟

@GovMohamudAli @ChuteSen @NaomiWaqo
@MbtAssembly

2027 Aspirants what's your plan?
@harsama_kello
@rasso_ali
@BaloziYatani
@Gedhia_Marsabit

[KTN News @KTNNewsKE]

Marsabit County's healthcare system is on the verge of total collapse as a strike by clinical officers enters its 151st day, triggering a humanitarian crisis where newborns are dying and residents are crossing into Ethiopia seeking medical attention.
#KTNPrime

[B_kind @born_bkind]

The sad state of healthcare in Marsabit County.

[B_kind @born_bkind]

151 days of missing healthcare services, and there are leaders who were entrusted with the delivery of healthcare service that is Available Accessible and Affordable.
@WilliamsRuto @Senate_KE @MOH_Kenya @Halima_Diida

[Kenya Union of Clinical Officers @kUCOofficial]

When governance fail, hardworking citizens pay, sometimes with their own lives

[Bomita @BonfaceMbaka]

It's so shameful that 63 years after independence National Government of Kenya.. 13 years after devolution in Marsabit county..Poor Citizens of Kenya have to seek healthcare services in Neighboring Countries Ethiopia..@WilliamsRuto, @_KithureKindiki, @koske_felix, @HonAdenDuale

[Kenya Union of Clinical Officers @kUCOofficial]

When governance fail, hardworking citizens pay, sometimes with their own lives

[Citizen TV Kenya @citizentvkenya]

Lalama za maafisa kliniki:

Muungano wa KUCO umeishtumu serikali Marsabit

Mgomo wa maafisa kliniki umeathiri huduma

Mvutano unaendelea kati ya kaunti na KUCO

#SemaNaCitizen

[B_kind @born_bkind]

@NickJonesNandi @ntvkenya The situation in Marsabit County, yet the Governor is living large! 😔 😔 😔

[B_kind @born_bkind]

@NickJonesNandi @ntvkenya @edwinsifuna County 010

[B_kind @born_bkind]

146 days without care.
146 days of mothers risking their lives at home.

Marsabit is bleeding quietly.

How many more must we lose before action is taken?
@WilliamsRuto @GovMohamudAli
@ChuteSen
@MbtAssembly
@HealthMarsabit

[Kenya Union of Clinical Officers @kUCOofficial]

For 146 days, Marsabit County Clinical Officers have been on strike.
For 146 days the tax payers of Marsabit have not had health services in their facilities.

Mortality has been on an upward surge especially maternal and neonatal mortality as many women given birth at home.

[Kenya Union of Clinical Officers @kUCOofficial]

For 146 days, Marsabit County Clinical Officers have been on strike.
For 146 days the tax payers of Marsabit have not had health services in their facilities.

Mortality has been on an upward surge especially maternal and neonatal mortality as many women given birth at home.

[B_kind @born_bkind]

@AlinurMohamed_ True accountability demands scrutiny at the highest level, including the Cabinet Secretary.

[B_kind @born_bkind]

@Halima_Diida Kiongozi ameshiba 🤣

[Peterson Wachira HSC @ptason]

https://t.co/dVg3JKdYzS

This is getting out of hand @GovMohamudAli @ChuteSen @Senate_KE @GvnMandago @edwinsifuna @HonAmasonKingi