Officials from a doctors’ union have warned of a looming crisis in the health sector following a huge brain drain to other countries due to poor remuneration.
The officials led by National Chairman of the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentist Union (KMPDU) Dr Samuel Oroko said that Kenya’s minimal budget allocation to the health ministry threatens to crumble down the health sector.
“We have witnessed continuous reduction in percentage of total GDP allocated to health. The Abuja declaration of April 2001 requires all member countries to allocate at least 15 per cent of total GDP to health. In Kenya we are trailing at three per cent based on 2014/ 2015 budget,” said Dr Oroko.
He revealed that out of 1.7 trillion, only 47.4 billion was allocated to health, out of which only 2.4 billion was meant to pay doctors, clinical officers, nurses and other healthcare workers.
Dr Oroko, who is also the secretary general of KMPDU South Rift Valley, told this writer that last year alone, 1,800 doctors resigned from the public sector due to poor pay.
“These are patriotic doctors who would have liked to work with the government, but the working conditions were terrible and they couldn’t take it anymore,” said Oroko.
The KMPDU official lamented of persistent neglect of health care saying that many doctors were resigning to go for other well-paying careers, with others leaving most of the 47 counties for greener pastures abroad.
He disclosed that the few remaining health practitioners are stretched beyond the World Health Organisation (WHO) ratio with the current doctor-patient ratio in Kenya standing at 1 doctor to 17,000 of the population as opposed to WHO’s one doctor for every 1,000 patients recommendation.
“We have had perennial under-payment of doctors in Kenya resulting in massive brain drain. Why do you pay a doctor, who works 15 hours a day and 450 hours a month, only Sh 40,000 per month? Is this fair labour practice?” he asked.
Dr Oroko faulted devolution of health services saying it was done in a hurry and has complicated health matters in the 47 counties.
He said: “Most counties have zero knowledge on how to manage the human resource in health sector with delayed salaries, stagnated promotions, unpaid allowances, harassment by members of county assemblies (MCAs) among other frustrations.”
The official said the inter-county transfers had become a nightmare with doctors being forced to resign from one county to seek fresh employment in another county of choice.
He called upon the State to centralise personnel emoluments and leave devolved units to manage infrastructure and supplies arguing that it was a sure way of saving the health sector from imminent collapse.
Although health services were among the functions that were devolved, doctors have, in the past, expressed their unwillingness to work under county governments leading to major standoffs and near paralysis of health services countrywide.