Environmental and Public Health officers have decried being overshadowed by key institutions and departments under Infections, Prevention and Control (IPC) by medical colleagues in the curative field.
The Public Health Officers (PHOs) claim that doctors and nurses who essentially deal with curative measures in the healthcare system have invaded their departments and taken leadership roles in disease prevention areas, which is their turf.
Speaking during a meeting in Garissa County led by the national General Secretary of the Kenya Environmental Health and Public Health practitioners (KEHPHPU), Brown Ashira, the PHOs want counties to post their qualified members to IPC departments. "Infections, prevention and control (IPC) is a reserve of public health, primary healthcare is also a reserve of public health.
We know there are colleagues in the clinical areas who have occupied IPC and we are putting them on notice and we are telling them to relinquish those positions," Ashira said. "We are asking the Chief Officer in charge to post qualified PHOs to be in charge of Infections, Prevention and Control and also the public health department in Garissa.
