Cuban doctors to start offering healthcare services in Kenyan homes - Kagwe

 

Cuban doctors will from next year start offering health care services right in people’s homes, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has said.

Kagwe spoke on Thursday when he announced that the country will renew their program next year.

The CS called on county governments to adopt the Cuban family physicians and facilitate them to be visiting people in their homes and offer their services there.

"In their country, the physicians are not used to working from a hospital but visit homes," he said.

He called on county governments to provide them with vehicles and mobile clinics so that they start visiting patients’ homes.

 “This is to make sure that instead of asking people to come to health care, we take health care to the people. I urge you to support the system, allocate money for it so that we can transform the way we provide healthcare,” he said.

Kagwe spoke during the official launch of a teleconferencing facility, Nyota ya Nyeri E-newsletter and the hoisting of the county flag at the county assembly of Nyeri.

The function was held at the County assembly of Nyeri where ICT CS Joe Mucharu was the chief guest while CS Kagwe followed the event and addressed remotely via teleconference.

Kagwe also called on the county government to ensure that money paid to health facilities either by NHIF or direct payment is retained in those facilities.

This will ensure the hospitals have essential drugs permanently and all the time if the government can supplement the payments.

The CS said this has been done successfully in counties like Kakamega and Kisumu and called on Nyeri to follow suits.

“So let us make sure that in Nyeri as well, the Level II and Level III hospitals are well catered for,” he said.

He urged Nyeri people and especially the elderly to be more vigilant as the festive season approaches and called on them to avoid pubs and social gatherings.

“You can go to church some other time when Covid-19 is over. But for now, I urge you to please stay away from social gatherings,” he said.

The national government, he said, is working very closely with the Nyeri county government to improve matters health in the county.

He said the Kenyatta National Hospital - Othaya Annex has been upgraded substantially with the national government now working on the kitchen, mortuary, and laboratory and has just finished installing oxygen plant.

The government, he said, is also working with the county to upgrade the Nyeri County Referral hospital as well as expanding other Levels three hospitals in Nyeri.

“The government is also about to embark on the construction of the special cancer hospital working concurrently with Kimathi University,” he said.

 “In terms of per capita health care facilities, Nyeri continues to be ahead of other counties and we will pursue the same path so that we are able to take care of our people and also attract medical tourism for our people.”