Corporate News
High cost of antibiotics slows down war on disease
Pharmacist Eunice Wambiri shows a packet of the branded Augmentin antibiotic (in her right hand) and its generic form, Clavulin. An essential antibiotic 'ciprofloxacin', used to treat a range of infectious diseases, including diarrhoea and typhoid, has been found to be most expensive in Kenya compared to other markets. File
Posted Wednesday, January 13 2010 at 19:41
The most recent data from the Ministry of Health indicates that out-of-pocket expenditure accounts for 53 per cent of the total cost of medical services in Kenya with the remainder being Government, community insurance including harambees, private prepaid health plans and non-profit institutions.
Purchase of antibiotics constitutes over 70 per cent of the average Sh1,500 pocket medical spend by Kenyans in a year driven by community-based respiratory tract infections that have a high occurrence in Kenya.
The cost of medicine is a life or death issue in Kenya where poverty afflicts 60 per cent of the population.
Research by a group of professionals responsible for advising the government on universal health care showed the abject poor make the highest number of hospital visits, a total of 16 every year, but they use the lowest amount of money, Sh1,637 every year to pay for their health care services.
The rich make the lowest number of hospital visits averaging 9.6 and use Sh2,704 on average per visit.
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