Public hospitals will be biggest beneficiaries of new traffic laws

Bus wreck at an accident scene. Photo/FILE 

By Edward Omete

In Summary

• The government will save millions of shillings used to treat injuries

From Tuesday, Kenya’s public transport sector entered a lane that will hopefully reduce road carnage that has become a norm. For the Health ministry, the new tougher laws will help slash the high costs of treating accident patients under government care.

The true economic cost of the dangerous roads especially how much the government spends is yet to be determined, but no doubt it is a colossal figure. This cost is not just in monetary terms, but also in lost productivity and sometimes loss of life which cannot be easily monetised.

A recent WHO report indicates that about 21 fatalities occur per 100,000 Kenyans and 1,638 deaths for every 100,000 vehicles on our roads.

With the number of vehicles on our roads increasing, these statistics are also likely to rise. Last year, the traffic police department reports indicated that the number of road accidents rose to over 3,500.

Because figures for accidents involving cyclists and bodabodas are often under-reported, it is likely that these figures could be higher.

Accidents involving serious body injuries are most likely reported while those without severe injuries are settled by the roadside before police arrive, further underestimating accident figures. Cumulatively, the number of accidents may be over 5,000 per year.

Burden

The main burden of cost for treating accident victims falls on the government’s hands since most have no medical insurance. For example, in a matatu, 99 per cent of passengers would be without a significant insurance.

Surgery which is often the prescription for most accidents is above reach for many of such patients. As a result, they end up spending months in the wards and numerous outpatient orthopedic clinic visits on discharge, become the norm.

They occupy a significant time of the scarce medical personnel in the wards and other hospital resources.

An injury sustained in an accident five years ago may still haunt your pocket decades later on with chronic pain, occupational losses. Lost man hours calculated by the disability adjusted life years (DALYs) also take a toll on the pockets.

A rough estimate on the cost of a fracture healing in a public hospital goes to about Sh100,000. This does not include the subsidies in wages, medication and accommodation the government hospitals offer. This multiplied by the lower figure of even just 5,000 patients comes to almost a Sh1 billion in direct revenue savings.

County health officials and the local insurers who are also potential benefactors of the new transport Act should be on the forefront to support these rules.

We should soon begin collecting data for the period just ended and the new era under the transport and safety authority’s rules to see if there will be any change.

However, if the statistics from the recent ban in the night travels is anything to go by, then Kenyan roads can be a joy to drive in again. It would be interesting too to compare the data for the various counties in terms of their safety records.