By Owuoche Kate
Kisumu County in collaboration with the Carolina for Kibera Foundation yesterday made a great contribution to the Kisumu County Hospital’s Covid 19 emergency response team by donating equipment worth 2.1M towards the fight against the spread of covid 19 in the county.
The handing over of the equipment took place at the Kisumu County Hospital where the county chief of health, Dr. Gregory Ganda, presided over the function that involved various health leaders in the county.
The donations made included N95 face masks, sanitizers, gloves, detergents, thermometers, pulse oximeter and disposable protective gear among others. All health caregivers and residents of Kisumu County were encouraged to use the right type of equipment and use them correctly to protect themselves from the virus.
Mr. Fred Oluoch, the county director of health, said that the county’s infection rate was still high and that Kenyans should be vigilant as the county is still not out of danger. He also noted that most people living in informal settlements have still not registered for universal health coverage thus not able to access health care.
The chief officer in his speech acknowledged the healthcare givers for the good work they have been doing in the fight against covid-19 and also expressed gratitude to the Carolina for Kibera foundation for the good gesture of partnering with the county to help the healthcare givers and encouraged other foundations to partner with the county and help improve primary healthcare in the informal settlements in the county. “In Kisumu, one of the things that give us problems is the urban population. The community health system is designed for the rural population. The urban population does not have a good design for it and that is where we will be partnering with you to see if we can enter into the informal sector and try to achieve.”
The executive director for CFK Mr. Hillary Omalo promised to work with the county government towards quality healthcare and affirmed the foundation’s continuous support to the health sector. Also present were the county health officers and other stakeholders.
