Murang’a Assembly proposes amendment on the County’s Ambulance Policy

Murang’a,

Wednesday, October 11

KNA by Anita Omwenga

The county Assembly of Murang’a has adopted a report recommending amendments to the Murang’a County Ambulance Policy that will facilitate in generating a final version of the policy.

In a motion moved by Chairperson of the Assembly’s Committee for Health Services, John Mwangi Kamau on a report on consideration of the Murang’a County Ambulance Policy, the MCAs said that the recommended amendments would be geared towards the improvement of the final version of the policy document to be generated by the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) of Health and Sanitation.

“The committee undertook a scrutiny of the Murang’a County Ambulance Policy to identify areas of compliance or lack of it thereof, within the standard policy generation parameters,” said Kamau, MCA for Nginda Ward.

Kamau said the committee recommended a raft of amendments after they noted that the Ambulance policy lacked a clear problem statement, the timeline within which the policy would operate, road map plan on management and maintenance of ambulances, clarity on the number of personnel to be assigned to the call centre and the location of the call centre as well as modalities of engaging key stakeholders in the management and operations of county ambulances.

“Policy introduction should include a time frame within which the policy would operate for instance five or ten years” he said, adding that a clear problem statement should be generated detailing the current situation and the problem solved including situational analysis of the current state of emergency cases in the county.

Under the policy objectives, the committee recommended addition of desired outcomes of specific actions including providing measurable statistical projections and management plan of and day-to-day operational rules covering all aspects of services delivery.

In matters regarding the establishment of a county call centre, the committee recommended that timelines be provided as to when it would be established and subsequently equipping it with prerequisite personnel.

“The committee observed that although establishing a call center in the county is a good idea and would help in managing requests for ambulances by the residents, there were no timelines indicated on the policy paper as to when it would be established,” he said.

The committee recommended that the policy provide clear roles of the management board of ambulance services in the county, provide clear linkage between the board and personnel and also create an oversight agent to the board.

Other recommendations include, provision of modalities on engaging key stakeholders in regards to management and operations of the ambulances and provision of specific facilities, where ambulances should be located and citation of the existing legal and regulatory framework in respect to management of ambulances for easier reference.

A policy is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. Various programs not only at the county level, but also at national level lack policies, which act as guidelines towards their implementation. This has resulted in poor implementation and at times null undertaking of the said programs.

Courtesy; KNA