shortage of nurses in Kenya while they abound in Diaspora

The Parliamentary Committee on Budget is accusing the government of misrepresenting facts over the problem of nurses’ shortage in the country.

Committee Vice-Chair Alfred Sambu is expressing doubts over the government explanation that the shortage was occasioned by lack of trained nurses in the country.

Led by its vice chair, the committee members paid a visit to Naivasha district hospital where they confirmed that the country is really facing a shortage of nurses.

The committee claims that the information availed to its members showed that the shortage was due to lack of qualified nurses a fact the committee has refused to buy instead promising to conduct independent investigations to validate the claim.

The area District Medical officer of Health Joseph Lenai confirmed that the department was yet to receive its financial allocation for this year.

Despite this, he said that the district immunization levels stood at 80 percent while that of family planning remained at 69.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Medical Services Prof. Anyang Nyong’o has said that the ministry has a deficit of medics countrywide due to lack of funds to employ more to bridge the gap.

The Minister observed that the scarcity of medical personnel was also aggravated by exodus of the medics opting for better pay elsewhere.

Prof. Nyong’o said the government was unable to take into service more health workers due to lack of tolerable funds and hence urged those in service to double their effort in offering services to citizens  as the shortage problem was being addressed.