THE
East African Community (EAC) has assured citizens of its member states
that there is no need of securing health services in India at high cost
as the EAC block boasts of best services.
The
East African Health Research Commission (EAHRC), an institution of the
community that has
marked a new era of close cooperation in health in
the region, has attributed the huge exit of patients to Asia,
specifically India, to lack of information on health services that are
available at referral hospitals in the region.
EAHRC
Executive Secretary Professor Gibson Kibiki noted that some of the most
sought after services by East Africans in the Asian country include
heart, kidney and cancer treatments that can be obtained within the EAC
designated Regional Centres of Excellence (RCoEs).
The
former Head of Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre’s (KCMC)
Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI) cited some of the RCoEs
for kidney diseases in Kenya; heart diseases in Tanzania; cancer in
Uganda and eHealth, Biomedical Engineering and Health Rehabilitation
Sciences in Rwanda.
The
EAHRC is established as a mechanism for making available to the
community, advice on all health matters and health-related research and
findings that are necessary for knowledge generation, technological
development, policy formulation, practice and other related matters.
EAHRC is the principal advisory body of the EAC on Health Research and
Development (R&D).
A
communiqué made available to the ‘Daily News’ here from Bujumbura where
Prof Kibiki was speaking at the EAHRC when he received a delegation led
by EAC Secretary General, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko, noted that the
commission will soon avail on its updated website information on the
RCoEs and health services that they offer.
On
HIV/AIDS, Prof Kibiki disclosed that the commission will focus its
research on life-prolonging drugs and how to make them work better.
He
cautioned members of the public and especially the youths that despite
the huge advancement in combating HIV/AIDS, the disease is “still with
us and preventive measures are inevitable.”
He
attributed the increasingly high level of resistance antibiotics to the
practice of purchasing drugs over the counter and under dosages
sometimes through self-prescription by members of the public.
He
revealed that East Africans may soon be able to access treatment across
national borders in addition to enjoying portable health insurance
across the region, adding that the commission will soon undertake
research to gauge the feasibility of a regional health insurance scheme
before piloting the scheme.
He
described as counterproductive the tendency by health researchers and
medics in partner states to work in silos since the region is one and
diseases don’t know national boundaries.
In
his remarks, Ambassador Mfumukeko who has been on a tour of EAC
institutions and projects in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi hailed
the commission for mobilising over four million US dollars (about 9bn/-)
for its operations from development partners over the last one year.
He
noted that the commission brings together the best brains in health
research from the entire region to tackle challenges faced by East
Africans in accessing quality healthcare.
Ambassador
Mfumukeko said that the EAC Council of Ministers had put in place the
commission after realising that the region could not forever rely on
medical researches conducted in developed countries.
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