LEASED MEDICAL EQUIPMENT CHANGING LIVES IN NANDI
The medical equipment leased to Nandi county by the national government is changing lives through better care.
All the machines are functional both at the Kapsabet County Referral Hospital and Nandi Hills County Hospital.
The MES programme is an arrangement between the county and the national governments. The Health ministry says its “main benefit is access to innovative medical technology and equipment to bring services closer to the people.”
The Ministry of Health targeted a county hospital and one sub county facility in each county.
Nandi County has installed two theatre equipment, two sterilisation machines, surgical sets, a renal set, and imaging and radiology equipment. Others are a digital and portable X-ray machines, a digital ultrasound machine, an MRI scanner, CT scanner, an image intensifier, a C-Arm machine, and a digital dental X-ray machine.
Also provided under the scheme were a mammography machine, operating beds, orthopedic attachments diathermy, anaesthetic machines, and a baby resuscitaire.
The lives of several patients in Nandi has greatly improved since the government supplied the modern machines.
Patients can now attend their weekly dialysis easily and at no extra cost for those covered by the National Hospital Insurance Fund ( NHIF).
Before dialysis machines were procured and operationalized at Kapsabet County Referral Hospital, patients used to travel to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret or as far as Nairobi.
Kapsabet County Referral Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr. Daniel Kemboi said before receiving the machines, dialysis patients from Nandi County had to incur a lot of expenses to seek treatment from distant places.
“Dialysis cost at least Sh. 19,000 per visit and before travelling, the family has to plan at least three days prior on issues of accommodation, food and transport. How many families can afford Sh. 72,000 monthly for dialysis?” he posed.
“The 16 patients we manage can now be brought in by their families in the morning for dialysis and return to attend to other chores and return to pick their kin after five hours,’’ he added.
According to the CEC for Health and Sanitation Ruth Koech said that with the modern equipment, cases of disease misdiagnosis have drastically reduced. Our clinical officers and the doctors, including one Cuban doctor interpret MRI, X-ray results and prescribe the appropriate medication a patient requires because of the MES facility.
And because of the ultrasound equipment at the facility, the Kapsabet County Referral Hospital is able to ascertain the situation of pregnancies as soon as a client comes in to the health facility, and attended to them accordingly.
Patients are praising the availability of the equipments. The joy expressed by an old man who requested anonymity summed up the transformation.
“I used to go and queue for days in Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret every week for dialysis but now I get the service here at home,” he said.