NAIROBI, Kenya, 19 April 2017 The Principal Secretary for Health, Mr. Julius Korir on Wednesday opened The Business of Health in Kenya forum with the Dutch Health Sector Trade delegation led by Dr. Erik Gerritsen, Vice Minister for Health, Welfare and Sports of the Royal Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The high-level engagement between the Kenyan and Dutch health stakeholders is expected to identify specific innovations, sustainable and scale up solutions that will contribute to improved healthcare delivery in Kenya.
The PS who represented the Health Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Cleopa Mailu observed that over the last three years the Government has been working with private sector orgainizations to improve access to quality healthcare through the Managed Equipment Service (MES) project.
Through this initiative, the Govenment has equipped 98 hospitals spread across the country in 47 counties with state of the art medical equipment and Philips, a company from the netherlands is one of the private sector organizations that has installed 11 Intensive care units in regional hospitals thus contributing to critical care.
“We would like to further strengthen this collaboration with more focus on primary healthcare, because we believe, this is where we will realise the greatest benefits and better health outcomes including buidling capacities in human resources through established and renowned institutions in the Netherlands, ” said the PS.
The PS added that Kenya has made significant trend in maternal and child health, HIV/AIDs, malaria and Tuberculosis control and ensuring quality health services are accessible to majority of her citizen.
“But due to resource constraints we are currently exploring other more innovative ways of financing healthcare, including leveraging on public private partnerships. Kenya is committed to strengthening partnerships both at national and international levels to honor the Sustainable Development Goals pledges. It is in this regard, we have subscribed to the initiative to accelerate progress towards primary healthcare and recognizing the private sector as a key driver,” observed Mr. Korir.