This archive report was first published on 23 August 2020.
Published on August 23, 2020, a community scorecard on the status of health centres in Baringo County revealed that locals are not guaranteed access to health services due to a critical shortage of staff.
According to the Centre for Enhancing Democracy and Good Governance, patients in some facilities are forced to travel between 15 and 20 kilometres to seek laboratory tests, highlighting the inadequacy of the current healthcare infrastructure.
At Sirata Dispensary, for instance, there is only one nurse, and services are suspended when the nurse is away on official or personal duties. As the report notes, "Laboratory services are not available at Sirata, patients in need of lab tests are referred to Marigat, some 15 kilometres away."
Ilng’arua health centre's scorecard revealed a lack of sanitation facilities, with staff and patients sharing a single toilet. Gideon Toromo, the chief officer medical services in Baringo, acknowledged the challenges faced by the county's health sector, stating that Ilng’arua also lacks laboratory technicians.
The county health strategic plan 2018-2022, released in November 2019, highlighted the human resource bottlenecks and lack of specialised facilities as major obstacles to delivering quality health services in the region.
With a total of 247 facilities and 58 community health units, the county has 1,210 staff in the health services department. However, the distribution of staff indicates a significant gap in the numbers and skills of staff in the county health sector.
As the strategic plan notes, "Baringo County Referral Hospital currently operates as Level Four and has specialised facilities for ICU, renal dialysis, diagnostics including CT scan, Histopathology, Biochemistry and Microbiology."
