Officials from the County Government of Bomet have visited public medical facilities and water projects in Kirinyaga County to benchmark on service delivery.
The delegation which was led by County Executive Committee Member for Medical and Health Services Dr. Joseph Sitonik toured the state-of-the-art medical complex at the Kerugoya County Referral Hospital and the new complex that is coming up at Kimbimbi hospital.
Sitonik said the team of had been sent by Governor Hillary Bachok to learn on how Kirinyaga has managed to transform the healthcare and water sector in the county.
“This a benchmark visit and you cannot hide the fact that Kirinyaga is actually a leader in these sectors. We have learned a lot through this visit and plan to replicate what we have seen and learnt in Bomet,” Sitonik added.
He said Kirinyaga had greatly improved on health infrastructure and service delivery hence making it an ideal destination for benchmarking.
The CEC said the team had taken note of how the Kerugoya Medical Complex and its functioning has been designed with a long term plan of addressing future challenges.
“We are in the processes of equipping our Mother and Child hospital in Bomet and we are in the phase where we are trying to see what equipment and fittings we require and we want to invite the architect, biomedical engineer, CEC among others to come help us on areas we need not factor while building out facility,” Dr. Sitonik said.
He emphasized on need for counties to work together and collaborate on areas of success so as to strengthen devolution and enhance services delivery to the people across the country.
“Kirinyaga is an example of what devolution has done in this country to actually to transform rural areas that would have been neglected if the centralized system of Government was still persistent,” Waiguru added.
Kirinyaga County has been ranked among the counties leading in innovative approaches to healthcare among them deployment of technology like the Hospital Management Integrated System which ensures accountability, monitoring and evaluation of the healthcare system.
Bomet CECM Water, Sanitation, Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change Chepkuto Jepchirchir said Kirinyaga is one of the rural counties free from water shortage and Bomet was keen to learn on the successes.
“We are happy as Bomet County that this visit has gotten us answers to some of the challenges to do with provision of water. Kirinyaga is one of the rural County that has registered great progress in provision of water for domestic and irrigation and anyone who want to learn on success of devolution then you must visit Kirinyaga,” said Chepkuto.
Speaking during the visit, the Kirinyaga CEC for Medical Services, Public Health and Sanitation Health and Medical Services, Dr. George Karoki said the visit by the delegation from Bomet was a testament that the health sector transformation in Kirinyaga was bearing fruit.
He said the county government has invested heavily in infrastructural and service delivery reforms, bringing about a robust healthcare system that is responsive to the growing demand for contemporary and high-quality services.
“The opening of state-of-the-art Medical Complex that has elevated the Kerugoya County Referral Hospital to a level five facility that is now offering comprehensive medical services for which residents have always been referred to Nairobi has been a game-changer,” he said.
Several other counties among them Turkana, Laikipia, Kiambu, Nyeri and Tharaka Nithi have also visited the facility on a learning tour.
Latest survey released by Infotrak this month ranked Kirinyaga’s health sector number three in terms of performance among counties in the country.Governor Anne Waiguru asked political leaders to stop politicizing health matters as this was hurting those working in health facilities.
Waiguru said the benchmarking visits by delegations from six counties was an indication the devolved units had seen some of the best practices to borrow and implement in their counties.
“As a leader and if you have a genuine complaint and you want a solution and want to help people, then take it through the right channel. Don’t talk from Nairobi. You call the Governor and tell me you have gone to this facility and found this problem but stop lecturing our medics because you are hurting them,” she said.
