Health ministry decries lack of funding

The Kenyan Ministry of Health said on Thursday that it had only been allocated half the money it had requested to provide public health services for the 2001-2002 financial year, the 'Daily Nation' reported. "We had requested Ksh 25 billion [US $325 million] from the Treasury, but we were only given Ksh 14 billion [US $182 million]," the newspaper quoted Medical Service Minister Hussain Maalim Muhammad as saying. Speaking during a visit to the Moi National Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, western Kenya, Muhammad said his ministry had no funds for developing Kenya's health infrastructure, and that the Ksh 14 billion budgetary allocation was only enough for recurrent expenditure. Uasin Gishu District Commissioner Francis Sigei had appealed to the government to facilitate the building of new hospital in Eldoret to serve the town's rising population, the 'Daily Nation' said. Sigei added that the government had allocated a plot of land for the new building but had not provided the funds to start development. Muhammad added that the government was working to ensure trained medical staff did not leave Kenya to work abroad. "My ministry is doing everything possible in collaboration with other relevant government authorities on how we can improve their terms and conditions of service," he said. The Kenya Medical Association (KMA) warned in August that emigration of medical professionals was threatening the existence of the country's health services. The KMA said that low pay was forcing some 20 doctors to leave Kenya each month to take up better paid posts in other countries.