The winners of the first ever Quality Healthcare Kenyan Awards (QHKA) were honoured at a gala dinner held last night at Radisson Blu Hotel.
The first of its kind in Kenya, the award recipients were recognised for their outstanding performance, contributions and achievement in improving the quality of healthcare in Kenya.
QHKA aims at recognising and lauding organisations and individuals for their outstanding contributions to the Kenyan health sector and will act as an impetus towards improving the standards of health service delivery.
A brainchild of Zawadi Brand Solutions Limited (ZBS Ltd) and in partnership with Amref Health Africa, the initiative takes a health systems strengthening approach to improve standards of health service delivery among health professionals by recognising outstanding performance, fostering innovation and the use of information technology and sharing of best practice. The initiative also unites the public and private sectors towards a common goal and creates a platform for collaboration.
Speaking at the gala event, Ministry of Health Cabinet Secretary Mrs Sicily Kariuki said,“ These awards come at a critical time when we are planning the scale up of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programmes across the country with the aim of providing quality healthcare services that will enable us transit to a more productive and equitable economy.”
The CS further stated that the programme will address three key issues in UHC which include affordability, accessibility and quality.
Guests also heard from Makueni County Governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana, who’s county did exemplary well at the event having garnered three awards.
“This is an important event for our country and continent. In Makueni County, we engaged the youth whose creativity and innovation were outstanding to help us accelerate the achievement of UHC through innovations. Today, we have a system that helps ordinary people in our county. Together with other actors, we are also planning a UHC programme at county level with a common objective of delivering quality healthcare to our people.”
Amref Health Africa in Kenya Country Director Dr Meshack Ndirangu acknowledged the impact of QHKA in recognising quality services in the health care sector for quality patient-centred care saying,
“The reason we are here tonight is to begin celebrating and acknowledging individuals and organisations in the health sector that have made great strides on this journey of quality. The UHC momentum gives us a golden opportunity to make quality of healthcare the DNA of our health system, by replicating and scaling up key lessons on quality, so that no Kenyan will join the 5 million people dying annually due to poor quality care.”
He further notes that the collaboration with QHKA seeks to support the government’s Big Four Agenda on UHC and urged the government and other stakeholders to work together and create a national movement that prioritises the needs of consumers of health services.
Director of Africa Health Business, Dr Amit N Thakker called on everyone to applaud the work other health professionals are doing and may not have the opportunity to be recognised. “There are still more heroes and heroines who are not in this group but are currently providing quality services to patients. Those who did not make an application but continue to save lives of thousands of people in our communities.”
“Past surveys have shown important gaps in the quality of care in Kenya, specifically in basic health facility infrastructure, medical equipment, availability of drugs and other medical supplies, diagnostic accuracy of service providers and adherence to clinical guidelines,’’ said Grace Ndegwa, Director and Co-founder of the Quality Healthcare Kenyan Awards.
“We set out on this journey to change the narrative and showcase impact of these positive contributions on the Kenyan health sector for scalability and sustainability, which is a first step in the right direction towards improving the standards of health service delivery,’’ she said.
Winners of the Quality Healthcare Kenyan Awards 2019
People’s Choice Category
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