Provision of free Covid-19 treatment has stretched Kiambu County’s budget with the county spending about Sh 600,000 to treat one patient, Governor James Nyoro has said. Nyoro said the third wave came when they had already passed the county’s budget and have been forced to hive off funds from their budget for roads, water, agriculture and other Ministries, thereby affecting performance of other sectors. He said move to waive Covid bills was informed by the expensive nature of treatment of the virus, so as to remove the burden from patients.
Speaking to the press in his office at Kiambu, Nyoro said they have to foot Sh 30,000 each day for every Covid-19 patient treated at their hospitals. “Given that the average hospital stay for a covid- patient is 21 days, it means that we spend in excess of Sh 600,000 for a patient. If by the end of the third wave we would have admitted 1,000 patients, then our budget will be quite strained. The huge hospital bills for covid-19 patients are largely because 90 per cent of the Covid patients in our hospitals are on oxygen with most of them consuming about 15 litres of oxygen per minute. This means that the three tons oxygen tank that we have put up in the County’s Covid-19 centre in Tigoni Hospital is refilled every 48 hours,” he said.
However, he said over 40 per cent of the patients they attend come from outside counties, given the strategic positioning of the county, thereby burdening locals resource wise. The county, he said, serves patients from the neighboring Machakos, Murangá. Nairobi, Nakuru, Kajiado, Kirinyaga and other parts of the country, over serving 60 per cent of its locals. “When Covid patients all over the country realize that they will be treated for free in our health facilities, they come to our hospitals and we can’t chase them away. I hope other hospitals start treating Covid patients free of charge,”’ he said.
His sentiments were echoed by a Kenyan billionaire Navedra Raval Guru (CEO Devki Steel Mills) who said those who have been receiving free oxygen from their company to not charge covid 19 patients for the oxygen. “If we give you free oxygen, we expect you to also not charge patients for their consumption. Like the Kiambu county, it has been treating covid-19 patients for free,” he said. Devki Steel Mills has scaled up donation of oxygen to hospitals from the Sh100 million it had pledged last month until Covid-19 is wiped out in the country.
Guru said they had thought Sh 100 million worth of oxygen would be enough to help Covid patients, but with the third wave hitting the country hard, saw the need to scale up the donations. “When the first wave came, we established that covid-19 patients need oxygen to survive. That is when I set aside Sh100 million to donate oxygen. Later when the third wave came in, I realized that the donation will be cleared up in two months, leaving patients suffering. That is when I committed to giving free oxygen until covid is cleared out,” he said during an interview with journalists at his Ruiru plant.
He said since the announcement that the company will be giving oxygen to hospitals for free, the company gives out Sh3 million worth of oxygen each day, with orders coming from almost all the county governments. He said given that there has been an acute shortage of oxygen in the country, there has been a rush from county governments to secure oxygen from their plants getting daily orders and having huge queues which they have been able to manage and ensure everyone gets supplies.
“There has been a huge rush of oxygen from all the counties as well as small and big hospitals. The queue is big and we make sure they come in shifts and that each gets their supplies. We have scaled up production of oxygen 24 hours each day to meet the demand,” he said. He further said they have also ordered 1,000 oxygen cylinders following a huge shortage in the country which will be delivered by the end of this week. An oxygen cylinder sells at sh 3,000.
In terms of operations, the industrialist said most companies Devki included had scaled down its operations by 50 per cent since Covid-19 struck and that they have been forced to downscale staff and production, affecting their stability. He cited his company whereby they had to stop all the steel mills to run 24-hour production of oxygen which they give out for free.
He said industrialists and business people will feel the net effect of Covid-19 for the next five years and it will be difficult to resuscitate industries and the economy unless the government has measures to cushion them. “Most industrialists were not prepared for closure. We have scaled operations by half. Other companies have collapsed and it may take over five years to get up. We need full government support and protection for stability,” he said.
Governor Nyoro decried that the budget strain has further been compounded by reduced revenue collection targets which has fallen from Sh70 Million weekly to about sh 30 million, he said. This has prompted the Kiambu County Assembly to come with a law requiring the national government to increase funding to its health docket to effectively offer quality health services to its people.
Speaker Stephen Ndicho said the law will inform the Senate and the Commission on Revenue Allocation to understand the need to allocate the county a higher revenue. Ndicho said the assembly that has 93 MCAs has had its fair share of Covid-19 misfortunes after losing Muguga Ward Rep. Eliud Ngugi to the virus in March this year. He further said Kiambu County assembly is in the process of coming up with a law requiring the national government to increase funding to its health docket to effectively offer quality health services to its people.
Speaker Stephen Ndicho said the law will inform the Senate on the need to defend the County when allocating revenue. He also concurred with governor Nyoro, that this has been prompted by the fact that over 40 per cent of patients treated in the County hospitals are non-locals, thereby stretching their budget. He cited Corona virus patients which he said most of those treated in the county hospitals came were non-locals and that they were being treated for free.
The assembly that has 93 MCAs has had its fair share of Covid-19 misfortunes after losing Muguga Ward Rep. Eliud Ngugi to the virus in March this year. Coronavirus is real and people should take MOH protocols seriously wearing masks and maintaining social distance. He also said they should as well apply local mechanisms of inhaling fumes from a boiled water mixed with some concortions whenever they suspect anything. Governor James Nyoro on his part said most of the county’s funds have gone to treating Covid-19, given that patients are treated for free.
He said the move to waive Covid bills was informed by the expensive nature of treatment of the virus, burdening patients. He termed the third wave as the most difficult period of the County, saying they have to foot Sh 30,000 each day for every Covid-19 patient treated at their hospitals. “Given that the average hospital stay for a covid- patient is 21 days, it means that we spend in excess of Sh 600,000 for a patient. If by the end of the third wave we would have admitted 1,000 patients, then our budget will be quite strained,” said Nyoro.
He said the funds to foot the bills are hived from their budget for roads, water, agriculture and other Ministries, thereby affecting performance of other sectors. “The huge hospital bills for covid-19 patients are largely because 90 per cent of the Covid patients in our hospitals are on oxygen with most of them consuming about 15 litres of oxygen per minute. This means that the three tons oxygen tank that we have put up in the County’s Covid-19 centre in Tigoni Hospital is refilled every 48 hours,” he said.
He added that revenue collection has also reduced from 80 million weekly to about Sh 30 million due to the impact of Coronavirus pandemic on businesses. “We are now financially stretched and hope the government realizes this and allocates us more revenue for health,” he said.
Many residents and leaders in Kiambu have thanked the investor and Kiambu county government for the good gesture in caring for its citizens especially at these hard times of COVID 19 where the economy is said to be at the doldrums. They included Bishop David Ngari who claimed small businesses and churches have also been hit hard by the pandemic.
