Residents advised to avoid over the counter drugs

Busia Sunday April 16, 2023

K.N.A By Salome Alwanda

Busia County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Health Beatrice Nakholi has urged local residents to refrain from the habit of purchasing over the counter drugs whenever they fall sick.

Speaking during a forum to mark the World Laboratory Day at Busia Polytechnic on Saturday, Nakholi advised the residents to go for diagnosis so that they are accorded the right medication and treatment.

‘These laboratory technicians have very important but difficult work because they ensure that you have the right diagnosis so that you get the right treatment,’ she said.

She further urged the local residents to visit public health facilities adding that they have professionals at the facilities.

‘’Please, come, we will serve you because all the experts are at Busia County Referral hospital,’ she said, adding that a number of patients choose to seek services from private hospitals only to come to the public facilities when their health conditions have deteriorated.

The CECM said that the health department is planning to employ 40 more health personnel of different professions to replace those who have left due to natural attrition.

‘As the executive committee, we have passed a facility improvement financing bill which will be presented to the county Assembly to enable us to avail monies to be used in our facilities,’ she said.

Janerose Ambuchi, Director of Medical Services reiterated that laboratory science was key while offering services to people.

‘You cannot treat what you do not know, you must first diagnose before carrying out a prescription,’ she said, adding that laboratory services are important to ensure that the doctors are treating the right ailment.

Ambuchi stated that the County has one of the biggest laboratories only found in five counties in Kenya called the Regional East Africa Public Health laboratory which was constructed through the support of the World Bank in 2012.

She explained that the facility has very powerful machines that can diagnose covid 19, paternity test among others.

“We have a huge potential in carrying out such tests if only we allocate enough budget for health services, especially laboratories so that we have those machines to be run optimally," she said.

 Dr Ambuchi at the same time reiterated the need to employ more personnel especially laboratory technicians in order to improve service delivery at the health sector.

Rosemary Okuku, the County Laboratory Coordinator said that the County has 48 functional laboratories to serve 117 health facilities.

‘So, the coverage of laboratories is at 30% meaning that some facilities do not have laboratories,’ she said adding that there is a need to have a laboratory in each health facility in line with the Ministry of Health (MOH) guideline in relation to Universal Health Coverage (UHC) implementation.

She further stated that only two facilities in the county were able to offer 24-hour laboratory services namely Busia County Referral Hospital (BCRH) and Kocholia Sub County hospital while the rest of the Sub Counties hospital did not.

"We need all our Sub County hospitals to offer 24-hour lab services because you can imagine a patient coming at night from Butula to Busia, 37 kilometres away since Butula doesn’t offer 24-hour services "she said, adding that there is a need to avoid such inconveniences.

The official further stated that BCRH has some modern lab equipment, qualified staff adding that the leadership should supply enough reagents and medicine so that it can serve locals better.

‘In revenue collection, the laboratory section is number three and it can do very well especially if it has the machines and all the required consumables,’ she said.

Okuku at the same time pointed out that the entomology laboratory at Alupe needs to be strengthened so that it can help in reducing malaria prevalence in the County.

She lamented that the County has acute shortage of laboratory staff adding that the lower-level health facilities are manned by one staff.

‘In cases where the staff goes on leave or any other errand, then the; laboratory is closed, hence negatively affecting the government’s efforts in implementing Universal Health coverage.

Courtesy K.N.A