Satellite clinics take quality healthcare to consumers’ doorsteps

Mater Hospital in Nairobi. It is among the hospitals that have opened satellite centres in the country. FILE 

By GEORGE OMONDI, omondi@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Outposts change the face of medicare with slices of top of the range service providers for consumers at the grassroots.

For Kenyans attending regional meetings in Arusha, the short distance to Meru Primary School comes in handy when the strains and stresses of the day call for medical attention. For, on the way, sits a forlorn signpost proclaiming the Aga Khan Medical Services brand.

In Tanzania, the Aga Khan Hospital has outreach centres in Arusha, Dodoma and Dar es Salaam, which it has set up in its quest to take services closer to patients across East Africa.

Players in the health sector say the satellite clinics have radically changed the face of healthcare services, ending an era when financially able East Africans had to come to Nairobi for specialised services at the hospital’s facilities.

“The Kenyan hospitals with units in member states have taken with them quality medicine, expertise, and equipment that used to force patients to travel long distances to Nairobi,” said Dr Kamamia Murichu, chairperson of Kenya Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Distributors Association.

“The health sector is far from its potential, but I can say this is one area in which the regional integration has played an important part in boosting access to medicine and healthcare,” said Dr Kamamia, who is also the Secretary of the East African Health Platform in an earlier interview.

In reality, however, the drive by major Kenyan hospitals to brand and chain small clinics has less to do with regional integration than with positioning in the market.

Whether the clinics are set within the country, or outside the national borders, the model is similar across the hospitals, the institutions’ bosses say.

To start a satellite clinic, all a hospital needs is a laboratory, physiotherapy unit, imaging facility, and other equipment that enables it to provide comprehensive service to patients, said Betty Gikonyo, CEO of Karen Hospital. These are the internal resources that are likely to drive any hospital into expansion.

Hospitals executives also talk of a desire to address time constraints that limit their clients by taking services closer to them. However, Dr John Muriithi, CEO of Mater Hospital, said hospitals set up outreach centres in smaller towns only if assured of manpower that will guarantee the same business model and service level as is available in the main hospitals.

“It’s just like opening a bank branch. You start from the scratch, but with responsibility for giving patients the same standard of service they’d get at the main hospital,” said Dr Muriithi.

In terms of external resources, the hospitals tend to follow the distribution of public health facilities to enable them to share manpower. This, he said, is a reality that the health sector, which has been grappling with shortages of specialised skills since independence, has to deal with.

At the satellite clinics, patients are mainly served by general practitioners, but specialists, including paediatricians and oncologists, have to be sent at regular intervals to attend to specific cases.

Similarly, satellite clinics tend to encourage the use of generic medicine, which is equally effective, but cheaper than the branded drugs offered at the main hospitals.

With the cost of medical care largely dictated by doctor’s fees and prescriptions, the executives say satellite hospitals end up charging less for their services than the main hospitals.

At the Mater Hospital, Dr Muriithi said deliberate effort is also made to discount consultation fees for clinics located in small towns to reflect the lower level of economic activities.