Devolve healthcare to reduce maternal mortality, says governor Roba

Mandera Governor Ali Roba. He has called for a speedy devolution of healthcare services in order to tame the rising maternal mortality rate especially in Mandera. Mr Roba has said he solution to this problem lies in skilled birth attendance. PHOTO/FILE

Friday, November 29, 2013

advertisements

Mandera governor Ali Roba has said the devolution of health services is key to reducing the alarming maternal mortality rate in his county.

Mr Roba has urged the national government to speed up the decentralisation of public healthcare services to county governments in order to save the lives of expectant women, majority of who die while giving birth.

Mr Roba said the recent report released by the Economic Planning Secretary, Ministry of Devolution and Planning Stephen Wainaina showed the urgent need for the devolution of the healthcare sector as the maternal mortality rate was worsening especially in his county.

The governor said Kenyans should be worried by the high and continually rising Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) as well as the accompanying wide variations among counties.

At the same time the governor warned that if drastic interventions are not put in place to save the lives of pregnant women the maternal mortality rate will still go high.

According to a policy brief derived from the report, Elgeyo Markwet has the lowest Maternal Mortality Rate at 187 while Mandera has the highest at 3,795.

“To bring this into perspective, previously reported very high Maternal Mortality Rates (MMR) have all been in countries at war, the highest having been 2,000 in Sierra Leone in 2005 (the threshold for ‘natural’ MMR), followed by Afghanistan at 1,900, the same year," Mr Roba said.

SURPASSED THRESHOLD

"In Somalia, our Eastern neighbour, MMR has been estimated at 1,000-1,200 and in Chad at 1,100 in 2010,” he added. He was speaking to the Daily Nation on phone.

He said the report implied that the maternal mortality rate in Mandera is almost twice as much as what would be expected in the ‘wild’, having surpassed the threshold for the so-called ‘natural’ MMR by 1,795.

“This suggests that we need to interrogate reasons why," said the governor.

"The tragedy is that we know what should be done to reduce these deaths, but no deliberate attempts are being made to address the issue," he lamented.

"No health professional union or association has ever raised the red flag or ever interrogated why," he added.

The governor said that the solution to this problem lies in skilled birth attendance as has been witnessed especially in developed countries.

Mr Roba insisted that solutions to the alarming deaths of pregnant women lie solely in the county governments.

He said that the solution to getting human resources for health, recruitment and retention of health workers lies with the county governments.

THREAT FROM DEVOLUTION

"Equity is not only threatened by health infrastructure and the human resources required by the health sector but is also facing a potential threat from devolution, which appears not to be very well managed,” he added.

His concerns come a few days after President Uhuru Kenyatta asked doctors and governors to resolve the impasse on devolution of health services to the counties.

Mr Kenyatta, who met officials from the Ministry of Health and representatives of medical unions, said both sides should accept to address the problem within the next two weeks.

“We passed a constitution and we must follow it. Devolution is a reality and there is no turning back.

The health function is devolved and the process is irreversible. The impossible cannot be made possible. What we are discussing here are the challenges,” President Kenyatta said.

However health workers have opposed plans to put them on county payrolls.

Instead, they are demanding for the creation of an independent institution to handle salaries, hiring and discipline matters.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners Union (KMPDU) officials who were present at the State House meeting have complained that there is no law guiding the devolution of health services.

Home
Email

Hiiraan Online