Kenya's health workers are among the most frustrated anywhere in the world and majority are seeking a way out, the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) has said. "Today I have a list of over 3,000 nurses who want to get out. At this rate the country may take over 60 years to attain the recommended nurse-patient ratio," said KNUN chair Jeremiah Maina in a Standard Media report.
A survey carried out last year by leading psychiatrists in the country found that levels of burnout among health workers at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) were higher than anywhere else in the world. The global average they said is 66% but at KNH it was 97%. Seven psychiatrists from local universities who included David Ndetei of the University of Nairobi said the country is already paying for neglecting its health workers.
"The turnover of old and experienced medical workers is very high leaving management to the young and less experienced," the survey, which was led by consultant psychiatrist Donald Kokonya, revealed.
The single biggest cause of burnout among the workers is poor working environment characterised by too many patients, inadequate facilities and patients’ relatives, the study showed. Nurses at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital were on strike citing lack of drugs, facilities and long working hours as factors pushing them to industrial action.
The report says the Kenyan health worker is very angry and frustrated and the team was surprised that they are still functioning. "It is a miracle that they are still working without serious consequences like happened in the UK between 1990 and 1992 when 152 nurses committed suicide which were linked to the burnout syndrome," the study said.
[link url="http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/health/article/2000149617/burnout-by-kenyan-medics-at-alarming-level"]Full Standard Media report[/link]
[link url="http://ajop.co.za/Journals/November2014/burnout_syndrome_among_medical_workers_at_kenyatta_national_hospital_142.pdf"]African Journal of Psychiatry article[/link]