As we usher in 2015, I derive great inspiration from Dr Walumoli Wanjofu, a specialist obstetrician gynaecologist with an enviable CV who has finally left city life to set up shop in his rural county.
Despite having a lucrative practice with a sizeable clientele from the Kilimani mamas, he believes now it’s time to go back to his roots. Gone too will be the numerous consultancies, part-time teaching job at the university and access to a large national referral hospital.
When I inquired why the drastic step, he responded with his usual coy smile, saying: “I was climbing up in the national and international arena, including a stint as a medical corps in the peace keeping mission in Sierra Leone, so now I have decided to go back down to the county that raised me.”
At a time when research shows that being poor is highly correlated with poor health, hospitals and doctors are following privately insured patients to more affluent areas rather than remaining anchored in communities with the greatest healthcare needs. That is why the narrow path Dr Walumoli has chosen is admirable.
Hospitals and family doctors, the mainstays of healthcare, are few and far between in rural counties, where the sickest populations live. Some years back a famous mission hospital (Misikhu) in Western Kenya was closed down. This has since left a huge gap in terms of access to quality healthcare. I have a personal connection to Misikhu Mission Hospital, that being the hospital where I got most of my childhood vaccines and healthcare.
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I dream of someday reviving a Misikhu-type hospital to serve that needy population and give back to the community that raised me, emulating the example of Dr Walumoli.
A shared goal for Vision 2030 is for a “high quality, high value maternity care system” for all the women in rural counties to decrease maternal and child morbidity and mortality as well as improve overall health outcomes.
Even though it is only the beginning, it holds great promise and is very inspiring!
