Thursday July 30, 2020
One unavanishing truth is that the devolution of health by the architects of the constitution was supposed to rewrite the story of the entire health sector from a near-gloom to a robust tailored perfect fit to the endemic health pitfalls at the grassroots.
Arguably, this was a timely intervention, only comparable to a cardiopulmonary resuscitation administered to the unconscious sector on its deathbed; to breathe it back to life.
I have always belonged to the school of thought that emphasises the philosophy "health is wealth" and that only a healthy population is highly productive as regularly advanced by human resource management scholars.
But, this is not the case in Wajir, my home county, a county that has
historically suffered from close to six decades of economic
marginalisation by successive regimes.
It was therefore, only natural that the arrival of devolved health sector was a supposed panacea.
Locals
who spent several days travelling to far-flung hospitals in Nairobi or
Garissa saw hope; new dawn which is regrettably, slowly, and painfully
being short-circuited, thanks to a swamp created by an increasingly
visionless nostrum of leadership.
Wajir County today has one of the highest mortality rates and specifically very high maternal mortality rates.
A
very unfortunate development that should gush even the tears of sadists
with the stoniest of hearts. Undeniably, the high death rates are
attributed to the omnishambles called public hospitals in Wajir.
The
whole county health sector is terminally ill. The main referral
hospital suffers from incapacity through gross inadequacy of personnel
to barefaced corruption and ineptitude.
If the drugs have not
expired, they are simply absent, probably sold in the black market by
the corrupt public administrators or simply not supplied, despite the
billions of shillings going under the drain.
Just recently one of the long-serving health worker has succumbed to suspected Covid-19.
But his death remains etched in the memories of anyone who knew him. He died gasping for oxygen, because there was none.
The facility does not test for Covid-19 anymore because it has run out of testing kits.
The
county annoyingly lies to the Ministry of Health that it has met the
minimum Coronavirus preparedness threshold, even when it doesn’t have
painkillers on its shelves.
This is an unforgivable misdemeanour that even annoys the Satan himself.
For
a county that came to power on the premise of “Balantenu wa Shaqo”
loosely translated as “our promise is to deliver,” such kind of
leadership myopia is very disturbing.
It has openly proved, beyond
a reasonable doubt, that it lacks the commitment, wherewithal, and
intellectual wisdom for health development.
That locals have survived this mediocrity and still living is through the boundless bounties of God.
Curiously,
this is the very administration fingered by the anti-graft body, EACC
for being among the highest bribery index in its third year running.
The
strategy wannabes around the "king" can't wake him up from this
dangerous slumber in the middle of this turbulence, a turbulence whose
end is not in sight.
It appears the leadership has permanently cut all links with common sense, intellect and the affliction of its subjects.
But
as the Ghanaian inspirational writer, Israelmore Ayivorsaid, “If the
problems you have this year are the same problems you had last year,
then you are not a leader. You are rather a problem on your own that
must be solved.”
Does that ring a bell? I hope it does.