Wajir County tackles medical supply theft, ghost workers in healthcare overhaul

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Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi has revealed significant challenges his administration faces with the embezzlement of medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and essential items at various health facilities across the county.

Despite allocating 40 per cent of its annual budget to healthcare, the county struggles with these issues, compounded by staff attendance problems and the presence of ghost workers.

Speaking at the Wajir Afya House during the commissioning of 200 healthcare workers, Governor Abdullahi emphasized the adverse impact of ghost workers on service delivery.

He stated that his administration is developing an automation plan for human resources at all health facilities, including the county referral hospital.

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This plan aims to track medical commodities distributed to hospitals and improve revenue collection.

“We inherited a dysfunctional hospital system where staff did not show up for work, the main hospital was filthy, and it was filled with ghost workers,” Abdullahi said.

“We are now working on an automation plan to address these issues.”

Governor Abdullahi highlighted significant improvements in the county’s healthcare infrastructure.

The Wajir County Referral Hospital has been renovated and is set to be upgraded to a level five hospital.

Additionally, 42 health facilities have been constructed, and another 11 have been renovated.

“The recruitment of healthcare workers is to ensure that the newly built facilities provide the intended services. We are also constructing a Level Five hospital, which is progressing well, and I am hopeful it will be operational by December,” he stated.

The administration is also at an advanced stage of upgrading eight level three health centres to level four hospitals.

Plans are underway to upgrade additional level three health centres in Wajir South Constituency, built with the aid of a World Bank project, to level four hospitals.

“We have recruited 10 new doctors and 200 additional healthcare workers, including nurses, clinicians, radiologists, public health specialists, and nutrition officers, among others. These recruits will be posted to health facilities across the county, bringing our healthcare workforce to over 1,300 people,” he said.

Governor Abdullahi also highlighted the partnership with the national government on the issue of Community Health Promoters, providing smartphones and kits to over 1,197 promoters.

Currently, Wajir County has 30 medical doctors working at the County Referral Hospital, including 18 specialists.

At the sub-county levels, there are 6 medical officers, with 16 currently on study leave, bringing the total number of medical doctors in the county to 65.

“To further enhance access to healthcare, we have been operationalizing new health facilities and upgrading health centres to level 4 hospitals. Today, I am pleased to announce that our administration is inducting an additional 212 multi-disciplinary healthcare workers,” the governor stated.

These include 129 nurses, 12 health records officers, 7 public health officers, 9 radiographers, 4 VCT counsellors, 5 dental specialists, 8 nutritionists, 9 pharmaceutical technologists, 13 clinicians, 10 medical officers, and 8 anaesthetists.

Governor Abdullahi also disclosed that his administration is constructing a state-of-the-art accident and emergency wing at the Wajir County Referral Hospital, establishing a satellite blood bank and mortuary, and upgrading 8 health centres to level 4 hospitals.

Additionally, 52 health facilities across six sub-counties have been renovated and operationalized.

“These initiatives have enabled us to offer advanced medical services closer to our communities, reducing the need for long journeys for specialized care,” he said.

Furthermore, the administration has streamlined the supply of medicines and non-pharmaceuticals through partnerships with the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) and other suppliers to ensure the availability of drugs throughout the county.

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