Respiratory diseases and malaria remain the leading causes of outpatient visits even as patients avoided hospitals for fear of contracting the coronavirus.
The 2021 Economic Survey shows diseases of the respiratory system and malaria accounted for 27.6 percent and 19.1 percent of the total disease caseload respectively.
The data shows 16,562,227 and 11,460, 477 of the total 60,002,746 hospital visits were related to respiratory diseases and malaria respectively.
Respiratory diseases and malaria remain the leading causes of outpatient visits even as patients avoided hospitals for fear of contracting the coronavirus.
The 2021 Economic Survey shows diseases of the respiratory system and malaria accounted for 27.6 percent and 19.1 percent of the total disease caseload respectively.
The data shows 16,562,227 and 11,460, 477 of the total 60,002,746 hospital visits were related to respiratory diseases and malaria respectively.
“These two diseases have continued to present the leading outpatient disease caseloads over the years,” said the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in its latest report.
The statistics show the total number of cases of diseases reported in health facilities decreased by 31.6 percent to 60 million in 2020.
Kenya reported the first Covid-19 case on March 13, during the review period prompting the State to impose measures such as a dusk-to-dawn curfew, social distancing, and work-from-home calls.
This triggered reduced hospital visits as people stayed indoors to avoid contracting the disease from health facilities.
Medical claim payouts by the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) dropped by Sh4.51 billion in the year to June, the first dip in 15 years, as patients avoided hospitals for fear of contracting the coronavirus.
NHIF data shows that Sh52.04 billion was paid out in medical claims in the year to June 30, down from the Sh56.55 billion spent in the previous period, helped by reduced hospital visits.
The measures put in place by the government to combat the spread of the coronavirus had adverse effects on the economy and health sector with a reported drop in healthcare services utilization in the country.
“This can be corroborated by the decline in the number of cases of diseases reported in health facilities as well as in-patient admissions,” said the KNBS report.
Kenya confirmed 242,284 cases of the Covid-19 and 4,864 fatalities by Thursday, at a time government is urging more people to get vaccinated against the disease.
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