ABOUT THE ONGOING KENYAN DOCTORS' STRIKE

In the past few weeks, there has been one constant item in the news. That is the ongoing doctors’ strike. To the beginners, the story about doctors strike dates over two years ago. During this time, the relevant ministry had rolled out some repressive regulations concerning the welfare of doctors. This included among other things the requirement that medical interns get bonded in order to be posted in the public hospital for the meager pay they have been getting. That this came without proper consultation, it was viewed to be in bad faith by the doctors fraternity. It took lobbying and street demonstrations to have this directive withdrawn quietly. Then, came the issues of persistent intimidation by officers from the ministry of health headquarters. For as long as the medical fraternity can recall, the issue of harrassment and intimidation has been cited time and again. People have tended to use their offices to arbitrarily met out punishment to those who go against their will. There has been suffering imposed on families as a result of unprocedural transfers, interdictions and salary stoppages. While the civil service code allow transfer of civil servants to stations that need their services, it emphasis fairness and consideration. In the ministry of health, one can be in one station today, and then a few days later, you are pushed to the furthest corner without consideration whatsoever. The most recent problem witnessed was the withdrawal of funding for doctors to further their studies at the two postgraduate training stations, namely University of Nairobi and Moi University School of Medicine. Kenyan doctors were at one time guaranteed that they will serve the government for a number of years then the government will facilitate their training and pay their fees. This was slowly removed and in the year 2010, all the governement doctors were informed in the last minute that their fees will not be paid, those who did not have any saving, were coerced to return to their stations. This broke the hearts of many doctors who had served the country with dedication hoping they will benefit from this facilitation for further studies. All the above issues have been raised with the relevant ministries with no feedback whatsoever. The doctors concerns have been met with deafening silence even from the highest offices in the land. Such matters have been thrown to junior officers to dispense with; unfortunately, the junior staffs are not empowered to make binding decisions. The government of Kenya and indeed the entire Kenyan public cannot escape blame in this matter. The government has systematically ignored the plight of hard working and dedicated Kenyan doctors and other healthcare workers who devote themselves for long unappreciated hours to ease the burden of disease and disability. We have witnessed the ever diminishing funding of healthcare in this country with shock and grief. The Abuja declaration commits to allocate 15% of the national budget to healthcare, in appreciation that a healthy nation is a productive nation. On the other hand, a moribund nation is economically sterile and will always be a precipitant to chaos and conflict. Every year, we witness less and less allocation to health care. Currently, only a paltry 5.5% allocated to healthcare and a big proportion of this is embezzled. As a nation we get ashamed that Kenya cannot offer simple remedy like radiotherapy to the cancer patients, women deliver at homes due to long distances they have to travel to get skilled birth attendance. The unfortunate bit is that such afflictions predominantly affect the majority poor. Kenyans have been held hostage by the few rich elites who will do anything to ensure that the poor remain poor, impoverished and in turn keep inviting their leaders to fundraising activities and endless funeral services. These forums in turn become venues to political spurring, verbal gymnastics and making public incitements. Some creative leaders have bought hearses to help transport bodies as a way to reserve the right to address such gathering. There are very few who have provided ambulances in order to save lives! As Kenyans, we also stand accused for tolerating this kind of rot in the crucial ministry of health. In the early days of Uhuru, the country was focused on getting rid of three enemies: poverty, diseased and ignorance. Somewhere along the path, the track was lost. The country lost the gusto to fight these and instead embarked on promotion of ethnicity, corruption and segmentalization of the country. The deplorable state of our health facilities has developed over a period of time. As the citizenry of this country we have never risen to the occasion. We have ignored this developing rot and buried our heads like the proverbial ostrich. Fast forward to the current day. We are faced with the poorly motivated healthcare, lack of equipment, shortage of staff in public health care resulting to overworked few, dismal resource allocation and lack of government goodwill to resolve these issues. Politicization of healthcare remains a major hindrance. In Kenya today, the more you remain in school to refine your skills, the thinner you pay slip will be. That is why, a doctor will spend six years of hard labor, reading, sleepless nights, and scary escapades in order to graduate with a degree in medicine and surgery and on the first posting, he is paid peanuts and condemned to a life of living from hand to mouth. Any attempt to convince the employ to match their work with current inflationary trends is met with a reminder that medicine is a calling. On further insistence, one pulls out an oath written in the BC era and reminds you that you should not be money minded. Two things here come into focus: firstly, the society expects doctors to adopt a certain lifestyle. For sure, very few Kenyan will want to be treated by doctor who lives in a slum. It is expected they lives a dignified lifestyle. Secondly, doctors are subjected to same inflationary hardships, they consumer same commodities whose prices have been soaring by day. That one is a doctor does not mean they will not pay for water, electricity, rent, fuel and school fees for their children. Let’s face it, medicine is trade. One expects fair returns after hard work. Will you put all effort and end up in misery like most of Kenyan doctors today? Additionally, the medical doctors of Kenya united under the KMPDU sent a 13 point petition to the government to seek audience and have the cited issued dealt with. The issues included shortage of health facilities to cope with the population, lack of staffing in the available facilities, inadequate attention to staff training, intimidation of officers and victimization, lack of career progression, the poor working conditions of doctors and long hours at work, fair remuneration of doctors, and general under funding of the health sector. These issues are broader than it has been portrayed recently. The issues raised were aimed at raining the level of care in Kenya and in essence benefit the poor and marginalized Wanjiku who is not able to visit private hospitals or seek health care out of the country. The government has constantly isolated the point on pay of doctors while ignoring the other twelve points. This has been deliberately done to create a wedge between the public and the wide public and to portray doctors as greedy selfish individuals. This is very far from the truth, Kenyan doctors are saying, they are tired of presiding over dying patients due t lack of drugs and equipment. Give the equipment, drugs, right skills and a conducive working environment and pay them competitively, and they will stick to the hospitals and do what they are trained to do and love doing. Treat the patients. That the government sat on these issues and decided not to act despite various attempts to send reminders, it is humanly justified to suggest that doctors can result to industrial action as a means of having their issues given the attention they deserve. There is not a doctor, am sure who yearns for demonstration. In fact, doctors, manage to conduct themselves in a noble manner, are able to cover their own persons problems and listen to your complaints as if you are the first person they are meeting in the morning. This is the epitome of patience and professionalism. Indeed doctors must be the most patriotic people this country can boast of. They wake up when all people are dead asleep, they touch things which other people run away from, they risk their own lives to alleviate the afflictions of fellow citizens. After the strike eventually took off, there have been half hearted attempts by the government to negotiate with the doctors. I must hasten to add that this process has been punctuated by sideshows and unnecessary distraction. Intimidation and harassment of the union membership has been rampant. This has ranged from salary stoppage, dismissal of staff, letters of intimidation, and arbitrary transfers of staff. This clear demonstrates lack of good faith. As we move to the next level of unlocking the stalemate to reach an amicable solution, the two parties must engage constructively and realize that the main sufferer here remains WANJIKI who inevitably has to depend on these public health facilities for their day to day health service.

The New Wave is Sweeping Healthcare in Kenya

In the history of Medicine, there has never been such an age as this one. A brief view a global perspective, we are experiencing unprecedented discoveries and innovations. We are likewise experiencing a shift from the traditional way of doing things. The trade of medicine has been spiced with great input form the contemporary world. In the ealry part of the year, we witnessed seriea of strikes by docotrs in a number of the countries. With time, the public, doctors included have discovered that the government undrstands the only one language- MASS ACTION or strikes if youl ike. Egypt did very well and their demands were met despite the prevailing autocracy and dictatorship by the then presiden. In kenya, we seen to be headed that route. The kenya doctors have unanimously said that for a long time, they have been left in the cold as they pretended that all was well. People who have spent yrs and yrs in schools, earning less that cleaners in the treasury and Kenya revenue Authroity. doctors who cannot afford a medical cover or access to quality healthcare, yet they are in the business of saving lives The same doctors scroutching in servants quarters, living undignified lifes as they push themselves hard 'to save lives' in the history of this land, Kenya has never been this free, whereby all persons enjoy certian rights. The right to strike, picket and aks for better pay is what doctors want to express. Let all Kenyans of goodwill and the world at large know that doctors love their work. But reality checks in and they realize they cannot just live in deinal for ever. It is time their plight is looked into for the benfits of all I salute the KMPDU and its leadership!

BETTER TO DIE ON YOUR FEET THAN LIVE ON YOUR KNEES

In the recent past, I have tended to retreat from public life to reflct, meditate and take stock of the various facets of live. the more I ruminate on these issues, ponder and reflect, the more I am discovering myself. It has been amazing that all along, there was confidence that i knew myself. Ladies and gengtlem, the greatest enemy of our time in mediocrity- simply put, being luke warm, half hearted, 50/50, nusu nusu as many terminologies would describe this. There are many items that remain unmet simply becuase I did not make them a life and death affair. Mediocrity, lets face it kills all our facets slowly but surely. From relationships and social issues, to business, education and academic pursuits, and spititual development. The second issues inevitably becomes procrastination. This means unnecessary postponement of tasks, carrying forward work or locularly, dilly dallying. Men, ho perfect i have recently become in this. Imagine, minutes of an NGO meeting that i am meant to read and confirm takes more that a wk to just read and confirms! Editing a documents takes a century. Then helter skelter, here I am in the last minute trying to move mountains. The last arch enemy becomes poorp planning. in the olden days, we were trained to plan everything from money, time, other resources. With time these simple teachings have been thrown out of the window and in turn resulted in drifting through life like hyacinth on lake Victoria. This aspect of leaving one day at a time sickens me tremndously. Now that I have done thorough serach about my self, I get convicned that these are keeping me on my knees. A time to take bold move is now. Thus, I will take a bold move and deal with these three key aspects noted. This has nothing to do with new year resolution which I used to make several years ago. Any time you notice some strange behavior in me, Know that I am now self informed. Better to die on your feet that live on your feet. Kairithia.

The politics of healthcare

In recent times, Kenyan and the world at large have been treated to the unending saga at the MTRH, that is the Moi teaching and referral Hospital, Eldoret Kenya It may have passed as trivial issue to spend time commenting on, but this is not the case. This hospital has been like home to some of us, we got trained there and this means we are absolutely interested parties. This not withstanding, patients' lives have been greatly put at risk. Foe months now, we have read how the facility as been run down with abandon by persons who are not interested in seeing the hospital flourish for personal and political reasons. Granted, not everyone can afford to go abroad to be irradiated, not everyone has resources to get admitted at the premier facilities in the country. As they say, when two bulls fight, its only the grass that suffers. Take for example the minster for health. He wakes up and decided to interfere with the ongoing recruitment of the director/CEO of the hospital. He scuttles the process, imposes his own person in the position and before long this person is rejected. His boss, the person to whom the minister sings, decided to intervene and the minister ignores him. Who is in charge here? Hallo. Does the prime minister want us to believe that he is absolutely helpless in saving this hospital. For months, patient now feed like pigs, sleep in filthy places, have no access to drugs and are dying in hospitals. The staffs have remained unpaid for so long, some have decided to venture elsewhere. It is high time the concerned- minister, the two principles, the local leaders sat together and saved this hospital. Chest thumping only takes these guys to the Neanderthal age or simply stone age. One day, they will pay for this. There is not a single crime against humanity bigger than this! The dying few is a reflection of many who have chosen to die at home since they are sure they will anyway even if they visit the hospital. This is the modern day Wagalla Massacre, or other atrocities but perpetrated in a very soft way to evade the notice of the media. Over to you Human rights commission.

CONCQUERING PART I EXAMS

Many years ago, I was told a concqueror is the one who conquers. I hope this meaning has not changed! And this exactly explains how I feel now. After many years of agonizing in the library reading and memorizing, forming mnemonics, the day was nearing very first. In my life, I have never feared exams, afterall I have always passed these exams, this was my encouragement. At the back of my mind, one reality though kept on creeping...what if I failed. This means many things- extra time with this rapidly reducing life expectancy, extra money, extra free labor and slavery for Kenyatta, more time away from my family and to some extent the silent reproach from friends and all who care. I had told many guys that am back to school! Indeed this was regarded as a milestone since I had become a chronic MO I rapid can ones mental acuity deteriorate? There are times |i sat to read and my mind kept on roving all over, very intrusive thought that one hardly ignores. The absorption rate too low to understand why. This is the same person who would comfortably do 24hrs of reading bila fatigue and still remain cheerful. What about now? Keith Moore was literally greek to me. You read today, go for lunch and on coming back you cant figure how this damn human is developing. The day finally arrived and it was time of reckoning. How I hoped that this paper was called off. Alot of writing I did. thanks to the structure nature, I did not ask for extra papers. Somehow I was able to retrieve enough material to pursuade the lecturers to determine that I was now ready to proceed to part two of study. I received the news of exam with utter disbelief. To me passing exams is not as obvious as it used to be in the past. What a change of things? As look forward to the next phase of school work, many thanks are in order to all who played a role in supporting my studies. This truly made a difference. The sky is the limit I can tell all of you. Now this is exactly why I feel I am a concqueror in all things.

THE WORLD IS FULL OF VANITIES

we are treated daily to too much goose chase, haste and irrationalities. For a long time now i have been observing human around with keen interest in how they behave when faced with different factors.

We wake up and rash out of houses as if these houses are on fire, reason- to be the first ones in the long pile of vehicles, to arrive early to work. We are excited to arrive early and gain praise from our masters who shamelessly suck all our youthful energies and later damp us in the name of cost cutting and downsizing. One employer was very candid to an employee and told him that the age factor was affecting his speed of executing specified tasks.. How cruel can one be?
Back to the rat chase. Once in the office, people breath hot airs all over, domineer, bully ans coerce. All in the name of improving the bottom line
This is a predictably repetitive cycle of events that go on day in day out unabated. We sweat our selves out, to get a knod, get abit of praise.Eventually one retires to an empty homestead, surrounded by bushes, and animals for those who bother to rear them. Loneliness abound.
It is true that all we do is vanity...we heap oursleves with limitless concerns. What a paradox?

Psalm 122

I rejoiced with those who said to me,
"Lets go to the house of the Lord"
Our feet are standing
in your gates Oh Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.
That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord,
to praise the name of the Lord
According to the statute give to Israel
There the thrones of judgement stand
the thrones of the house of David
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"may those who love you be secure.
Mat there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels."
For the sake of my brother and friends,
I will say "peace be within you"
For the sake of the house of our Lord our God,
I will seek your porsperity.

A WORLD OF CONTRASTS

In the recent times, there have been reports of obesity, the silent killer among the afluent in the society. This made headlines with abandon until the current famine scourge cropped up.
The are guys who starve to death! That means, the utilize all the reserves, use all non esssentail storages until a ppont where the body cannot cope any more.
And talking of contrast, I overheard a neighbor swearing how she would never ever donate to the Kenyas for Kenya Kitty. I thought, this must be extremely mean! We are all exposed directly or indirectly. We have focused too much on blame game and ignored the basic tenets of being human. As mortals, we come, live and one day will surely die. We are sojourners on this earth.
How much will it profit a man (or woman) to amass all wealth and leave it intact. Is it not in order to share the little we have and make a difference in another persons life?

In this part of the country, guys are struggling, waking up early, going to the gymn, jogging, attempting ot starve themselves, using herbs and other means. On the other side, a mother watches helplessly as her children wither and die one by one. What a contrast indeed?

whats the fuss about GMO

In the recent days there has been lots of noise over importation of GMO maize in the country. There are a few obseravtions that merit mention
- the men and women who make most noise are exactly those  who debated and passed some of theses laws
-it is these guys who have advocated for declaration of hunger situation a national disaster
-majority of these guys are guided by rumors and heresay, with no sound knowledge of the subject matter.
-that GMO does not necesarily involve alterning the genetics of the organisms- the main focus is improvement to foster resiatance to drought and pests

There remains alot to be done in ensuring that Kenyans are well educated on the pros and cons of using GMO. The GMO technology is here with us and we must do all we can to aquint ourselves with what it entails.
Lastly, we need to choose the lesser evil: dying from starvation or dying from effects of GMO. This decision must be made not on the street or political rallies.
Lets sit and reason together and find a way forward.
I rest my case.

The role of medicine in fosterning national unity

For long the medical fraternity has been relegated to the peripheries when discussion on matters of national importance take place. What has eluded many peoples mind is that without good health, poeple cannot partcipate in politic.
Health is now cited as a human rights issue and no one can think of respecting human rights and yet ignore health.
Health practitioners of all cadres must actively take part in rebuilding this economy that has been for a long time destroyed through corruption and bad governance.
It remains to be seen whether we are able to rise beyond the mundane politics and positively engage to ensure Kenya attains the vision 2030 dream.

why do people hurt so much?

Its 730am in the morning and am driving to work when my phone rings. As a policy, never ignore phone calls, this might by the last call the person is making. I pick the call, its a colleague who says he is unable to join in doing ward activities
This means only one thing- that my day will be crazy. It means I will do work portion for 2people.
its some minutes after 8 and work has began in earnest. Chemotherapy to give, investigations to do, ward round to conduct, cannulas to fix among other procedures.

Then comes the most tormenting moment...admissions
Here are ladies (more than 10) who have come for admission as advised in the out patient clinic. Most of them have cancer, rapidly progressing. One can tell, especially having seen them some weks earleir. That the ladies are withering very fast, is no secret.
Of these ladies, there is lsot for only 3. All merit admission by all standards. There are vested interests, undue influence from some quarters. Then how do you tell a patient with cancer to go home and come after 1month. whatever you expalin, no one seems to be listening. This is for genuine reasin. ALL of us dread cancer. We have stories about cancer. For those with advanced cancer, its clear that they are in pain. They have hope that some miracle will be done to mop up all cancer cells from their circulation.
Two things come in mind. the management of cancer in Kenya is extremely neglected, its been pushes to the allies, no one cares. secondly, its a great mistake to get cancer in Kenya. If a person comes in DKA (diabetic ketoacodosis), everything comes to stand still until the patient is stablized. Come in with cancer, no one seems to notice.
The third thing is that there is system and policy failure to address the plight of cancer victims and survivors. Cance unfortunately is becoming common in the poor segment of the society. To afford just one type of medicine, one will need to work for 2-3months saving almost everything. How does one work when they cannt even walk?
Why do people suffer so much? How comes no one seems to see the need to invest in carinhg for this special group? Is there any person who chooses to get cancer or not?
Who will not notice such terrible suffering and what is one expected to do if all the government (read minister ) does is to hop from one place to another oblivious of the many dying Kenyan....

of the MPs and tax evasion

Only in Kenya does the employed negotiate with the employer on whether to deduct tax. This sounds quite amusing....