By Onyimbi Nelson

Highlighting some recent viral social media news, delays in maternity admissions leading to deaths of expectant mothers sometimes with their babies, a spike in non-communicable diseases including heart attacks, accident casualties, and similar incidences have exposed hidden weak links in the emergency response of many health facilities within the grid of our country’s health systems. With the exception of secluded county referral hospitals, the emphasis of public expenditure has been burdened on curative health, and most of our health facilities and staff still need to be strengthened in their capacities to handle emergency response for the preservation of human life.

Invoking article 43(1) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, which entitles every citizen to the highest attainable standards of health, part (2) covers the need to equally put emergency health services at the preventive forefront of health care services. However, the response towards emergency health in our hospitals is still a far cry from what should be seen, and we would be quick to point fingers if we blamed the weaknesses in the baby steps of devolution of health services in some of the counties. Past events like the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the national urgency for emergency preparation, especially in public health facilities, where crucial elements such as admission processes, patient space, and receiving medical personnel are inadequate. As such, other loopholes also showed that some of the blood banks we look up to as fundamental medical facilities still fall short of the capacities required to save lives at risk given limited time frames.

There is a need to improve emergency response services in order to save lives that could possibly be lost. As it stands, practical economics suggests that significant investment in preventive health, including putting in place emergency response measures is able to release a notable burden on finances directed towards curative health. Emergency medical services should be strengthened through the different levels of health systems. Apart from cutting on costs, this type of preparation would also ensure that lives are saved with minimal exposure to risk.

Onyimbi Nelson is a Youth Advocate at NAYA. SAIC II