THE STANDARD
RIFT VALLEY
Dr Angeline Ithondeka a consultant paediatrician at the Naivasha sub county hospital has a word with mothers during a post-natal clinic in the facility. [Pix By Antony Gitonga]
The Linda Mama free health scheme that supports pregnant women and infants in accessing health services could crumble due to lack of funds.
Public health facilities across the country are facing financial challenges due to failure by the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), which manages the scheme, to remit cash for the scheme since November 2020.
As a result, women seeking delivery services have been forced to buy some basic medical equipment as hospitals can no longer afford to cater for their medical needs.
A report on the uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine indicates that Northern Frontier counties are lagging behind.
Apart from the frontier counties, some of which have infrastructural challenges, Eastern, Rift Valley and Western regions are also still struggling in the programme that initially targeted medics and other frontline workers.
For instance, few medics in Nyamira County have taken up the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Out of the more than 800 people who have been vaccinated in Nyamira, less than 200 are workers in the medical field.
Nyamira Health Chief Officer Jack Magara attributed the slow rate of vaccination among medical workers to the stringent protocols followed in administering vaccines alongside other programmes like sensitisation of the populations and ensuring there is no interference in workflows in the respective departments.