Embu County Governor Martin Wambora has reached out to President Uhuru Kenyatta after his county was forced to hold Coronavirus suspect for longer due to a lack of safety kits.
Speaking at a presser held by the Council of Governors in Westlands, he explained that the four suspects had been held because they had landed from overseas, causing anxiety among residents.
"I want to thank the president for his leadership. I will give an example of Embu where we got four residents who have been staying overseas, three in the UK and one in Holland. If it was not for alertness of the people, they would have gone there and invited people all over the place.
"We were able to contain the four fast. Unfortunately, we were not able to test them because the testing is centralised. We must have testing centres starting with level fives (hospitals) then level fours in that order," stated Wambora
The county boss further pointed out that as much as the testing kits had been supplied, the medical personnel who were putting their lives on the line lacked enough protective gear to carry out their mandates.
"The kits which were distributed are short in terms of the boot. Instead of 25 boots, we only got five. It is critical we get the remaining 20 so that our health personnel can do the work they are doing and I commend them so far," he continued.
The mishap puts the country at risk of possessing an unknown number of carriers of the virus due to poor testing practice, hence increasing chances of its spread.
During the CoG presser, Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya asked the national government to decentralize Coronavirus testing to counties.
The governors further demanded that more funds be allocated to county governments to manage the Coronavirus outbreak.
Cumulatively, the CoG lamented that testing kits across all counties were not sufficient, after they received 2,805 personal protective equipment (PPE) sets against a promised figure of 305,000.
"We urge the Health CS to take up this matter seriously to ensure the country acquires enough stock to help us contain the virus.
"With neighbouring countries confirming cases of Covid-19, border counties need to be classified among the high-risk areas for heightened surveillance because of their proximity with affected countries, " read the CoG statement in part.
