A patient waiting for treatment sleeps outside Coast general hospital in this file picture.
By STELLAR MURUMBA, smurumba@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
At least 9,200 medical training
students from mid-level health learning institutions have benefitted
from the Afya Elimu Fund (AEF) that targets to produce over 40,000
health professionals in about three years from now.
The AEF, a students loan program funded
by USAID through IntraHealth International and other partners including
FunzoKenya, was rolled out in 2013 disbursing loans of up to Sh40,000
per student through the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB).
Most hospitals in the country
are understaffed with data from the Health Ministry showing that only 15
trained health workers are available to serve 10,000 Kenyans against
the World Health Organisation recommendation of 23 for 10,000.
"I can’t wait for the 9,000
AEF beneficiaries to get to work," said Deputy President, William Ruto
during the official launch of the Afya Elimu Fund in Nairobi.
"Every society has a gap of
some sort but provision of universal health care is our priority as a
government. We are not there yet but working towards it."
Out of the over 9,000 AEF beneficiaries, 1,223 mid-level health professionals have already graduated.
The fund has so far, since its inception, raised Sh522 million. It targets to raise Sh2.5 billion by 2019.
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