Health Ministry calls on health workers to volunteer in Ebola-hit countries

The Ministry of Health has called on qualified health workers willing to volunteer for humanitarian assistance in Ebola-hit countries of West Africa to get in touch with Director of Medical Services Nicholas Muraguri.

According to Dr Muraguri, about 100 health workers have already shown interest in volunteering to help save lives in Liberian, Sierra Leon and Guinea.

“Our action is informed by a report prepared by a team of three Kenyan health workers we had sent to the region earlier. They reported a case of fatigue among front line health workers who now need urgent support,” Muraguri told The Standard Thursday.

Details about the call which were indicated in a press advertisement in local dailies called on clinicians and other health professionals to get in touch with the ministry as soon as possible.

“Specifically, we want doctors, nurses and clinical officers who should get in touch within two weeks,” said Muraguri.

The call for volunteers coincided with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s statement in Kigali, Rwanda Thursday, indicating the country was making plans to send health workers to the affected region.

President Uhuru and his Rwanda counterpart Paul Kagame were fielding questions at a regional business summit in Kigali. “We are in the process of recruiting volunteers under a joint initiative of the African Union with the hope that the disease can be stopped at the source.”

President Kenyatta said the disease was a big burden to regional and Kenyan economies, with a cut back in tourism numbers and Kenya Airways having lost more than Sh4 billion.

This development comes at a time the disease has killed more than 4,500 people and penetrated Spain and the United States health and immigration checks, previously thought invincible to the disease.

The Kenyan workers will be joining a team from Uganda, US, UK, Cuba, Germany and several other countries, which have sent their health personnel to the region.

Meanwhile, health professionals have challenged the Government to step up ongoing efforts to prevent importation of Ebola virus into the county.

Through their Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), the health workers demanded that sufficient resources be immediately mobilised and channeled towards actual preparedness to handle the disease, if and when it crosses our borders.

“We would like to see the immediate establishment and or strengthening of healthcare systems preparedness, including enhancing emergency public information and warning,” said KMPDU Secretary General Dr Sultan Matendechero at a press conference.

The development comes hot on heels of a revelation that most health workers would be unwilling to risk their lives attending to Ebola victims due to poor working conditions.

In an interview with the Standard on Wednesday, KMPDU chairman Victor Ng’ani said the morale in the health sector was at its lowest, following disputes over remuneration and other working conditions.

Dr Ng’ani said few doctors and nurses would be willing to put their lives on the line treating Ebola patients.

“The feeling on the ground is that the medical sector has been neglected. The doctors and nurses feel they have not been taken care of sufficiently and would be unwilling to risk their lives,” he said.

Thursday, Matendechero said panic and uncertainty had gripped the entire health workforce for not being sufficiently informed about efforts being made to ensure their safety.