This archive report was first published on 16 July 2020.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage Kenya, the national government has shifted the blame to county governments, demanding that they provide 300 isolation beds within a month to host possible COVID-19 victims.
However, this demand is unrealistic, given the lack of testing capacity and capability in many counties. The government's decision to unlock hotspots and release possibly infected people into counties is akin to releasing murder convicts into a community, without any clear plan for managing the potential consequences.
Since the first case was reported in March, the government has been experimenting with various measures, without a clear end game in sight. Cabinet Secretary for Health Mutahi Kagwe's updates have often been more poetic than instructional, leaving the public confused and uncertain about what to do.
The government's focus on testing has been a major failure, with no public walk-in and out testing facilities available, and private testing being expensive and inaccessible to many. As a result, counties are left to wait for weeks to receive test results, by which time self-isolation patients have often vanished, infecting many more people.
The pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of Kenya's health system, with counties struggling to cope with the shortage of testing capacity, equipment, and healthcare workers. The government's failure to invest in testing kits has left counties in an insufferable dilemma, not knowing what to mitigate against.
With over 11,000 cases reported and only 250,000 tests conducted, the situation is dire. The government's half-measures have not worked, and it is time to completely devolve the health function to the counties. This requires a fundamental shift in the way healthcare is delivered and managed in Kenya.
