Over 3,000 students from 85 Kenya Medical Training Colleges (KMTCs) across the country have converged in Kisumu for their 14th national sports competition.
State Department for Public Health and Professional Standards Principal Secretary (PS) Mary Muthoni launched the games at the Moi Stadium where a number of disciplines will be hosted.
The games, she said, will not only help the students to unwind, but also to network and engage with the ministry’s top leadership to have their concerns addressed as they prepare to join the labour market.
The PS said they have witnessed protests by the Generation Z (Gen-Z) over the last one month and as an institution.
She said they feel that this is a golden opportunity to engage the students so that they contain some of these issues at the level before spiralling onto the streets.
Earlier the PS said a proposed Bill will give guidelines on the quality of care to be offered across all public health facilities in the country.
Muthoni said a survey conducted in the 14,000 public health facilities spread across the country revealed gaps in service delivery which the Bill seeks to address.
The PS said the survey has shown that health care is not just about having the infrastructure and advanced equipment, but also about the quality of services being offered at the facilities in order to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
“We can build as many hospitals as possible. We can have the most advanced equipment and human resources, but if we don’t factor the quality of services being offered then we cannot achieve UHC,” he said.
The PS said the government was on course to ensure Kenyans from all walks of life have access to quality health services.
To ensure that health workers’ concerns are addressed, the PS said President William Ruto has appointed a task force to look into the human resource for health and give recommendations to overhaul the sector.
“We want all stakeholders including training institutions like KMTC to give their contributions and send memoranda to the taskforce on how health care workers should be treated,” she said.
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By Fredrick Odiero
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