This archive report was first published on 10 December 2019.
Longisa Hospital in Bomet County is facing a severe crisis due to an acute shortage of doctors, with only seven doctors handling over 1,200 patients.
According to Dr Stephen Omondi, a representative of the doctors, the hospital requires at least 30 doctors to provide quality services to all patients.
“Seven doctors are not able to handle the high volume of work,” Dr Omondi said, adding that the shortage has seen doctors offer only emergency and maternity services.
Despite the county deploying doctors from sub-county hospitals two months ago, the shortage persists, with doctors deployed to the facility also serving other facilities facing similar shortages.
Other sub-county hospitals affected by the shortage include Sigor, Chaptalal, Ndanai, and Tegat, with services at Tegat having ground to a halt and Sigor, Cheptalal, and Ndanai sharing one doctor.
The county is also facing a shortage of consultant doctors providing specialised care in renal, eye, and oncology units, with only four specialised doctors available, including a general surgeon, orthopedic surgeon, family physician, and a radiologist.
Operations at the newly opened cancer treatment unit have been hampered by the shortage of specialists to run it, with most patients being attended to by clinical officers and nurses.
Chief Officer of health, Joyce Tanui, admitted that there was an acute shortage of doctors, attributing the crisis to the lack of a Public Service Board for some time, which has now been set in place, and hiring is expected soon.
“Plans are underway to employ medics from across all cadres to address the shortage and ensure service delivery,” said Tanui.
Published on December 10, 2019
