BY SHADRACK NYAKOE
The Nairobi City County Community Health Services bill is at the second reading.
The bill seeks to provide for the establishment and delineation of Community Health units within the County.
This is to ensure effective, efficient and sustainable delivery of community-based health services.
It also seeks to establish the necessary institutional and regulatory mechanisms to ensure functionality of community units in empowering households in health and for connected purposes.
If the bill is passed, volunteers who have been working with the County Government of Nairobi in the health sector will get a stipend.
The bill has been sponsored by Zimmerman MCA Pius Mbono.
The bill borrows largely from the Nyumba Kumi imitative.
“There is established a community Health unit which shall comprise of not more than one thousand households with ten Community Health volunteers under the supervision of a minimum of two community Health Assistants or offices,” reads the bill.
The bill states that a person shall be eligible for selection as a Community Health volunteer if the person is a Kenyan Citizen, has lived within the community for a year, is 18 years, passionate about volunteering and is literate and fluent in English, Swahili and the local community language.
The community Health Volunteers will be tasked with enrolling households towards achieving universal health coverage, educating the community on how to improve their health and prevent illnesses by adopting good health practices.
The volunteers will also be tasked with managing common ailments and minor injuries.
“Tracing defaulters to ensure compliance with health interventions including immunization, tuberculosis treatment, Malaria control, ARVs and malnutrition,” reads the bill.
While supporting his bill MCA Mbono requested for gloves and gumboots to protect the volunteers and a standby ambulance in all county hospitals to handle emergencies.
Roysambu MCA Peter Warutere said volunteers in the Health sector need to be taken care of well.
According to Mbono, the volunteers will be getting a stipend of at sh 6,500 per month and will be covered by NHIF.
Mbono said there are about 7,000 Volunteers in Nairobi County and who work in county hospitals in all the 85 wards.
He also said that the county has budgeted for sh300 million for the volunteers which initially was sh.100 million before Governor Mike Sonko doubled it.