Every person visits any health facility with the aim of receiving treatment. The public hospitals tend to have more patients seeking treatment than the private ones. This becomes a problem when patients have to queue for long hours before they are attended to.
One has an expectation of going back home when their problem has been solved only to be shocked at the pharmacy that there are no drugs. It is now obvious that when you visit a public health care center, with tests done or not, you are not guaranteed to receive all the prescribed drugs from its pharmacy.
This has happened to me several times. I have been to both public hospitals and private ones. Trust me, there is a very big difference. Both have been outpatient services. In a public hospital, you will have to spend the better part of your day waiting for services. After being attended to by the doctor, you come to realize that you have go to the chemist to buy some or most of the drugs prescribed to you.
At times you can be to the health center and go back home without any medicine. I wonder why someone would go to a public hospital, pay for an injection and again go to the chemist to buy the other drugs. You can even be told to come the following day so that you can get the drugs.
Why should a health center lack even painkillers? Sometimes the patients loose hope. If someone has no money to buy drugs or visit a private facility, they stay at home with their illness and hope to get well without any medication. This has worsened the health of many Kenyans who do not have an income source. To them, treatment is too expensive.
With this bad economy, it becomes hard for a family member to use so much money on their health and leave other members suffering. Some people do not have anyone to cater for their medical bills, they will only rely on free medical services. Other Kenyans cannot afford Medical Insurance like NHIF card to cover for their services.
On the other hand, private clinics or hospitals are preferred by most people because of their quick and quality services. This only favours those who can pay for services given that they are very expensive. It is easy to get every service that one needs from a private hospital. What about those Kenyans who cannot even get five hundred shillings for consultation?
Health services should be accessible to every Kenyan. A person’s health is very crucial than anything else. Let patients queue but at least get the prescribed drugs in the same facilities. Much medicine is imported into the country. The government should ensure that the medicine reaches the intended institutions and the target population.
Both National and county government should make sure that public health facilities work fully for inpatient and outpatient care. They should lack some medicine at least once in a while but not sending patients to chemists all the time. Essential drugs should not be missing in every hospital. Make health care services affordable to Kenyans from all classes.
Matildah Obaigwa,
Nairobi.
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