Lodwar- May 14, 2025 (Public Communications and Media Relations)

County Government, through its Department of Health and Sanitation Services, is working with UNHCR and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to transition two NGO-owned health facilities to County Government for a period of five years.

The two facilities, Natukubenyo Health Centre in Kalobeyei and Locherengamor Dispensary in Kakuma are currently owned and fully managed by Kenya Red Cross Society and IRC respectively.

The County Executive Committee for Health, Dr Joseph Epem today met with a delegation from IRC led by the Country Director, Mohamed El Montassir Hussein to discuss progress and support from IRC during the transition process.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how IRC can support the county government to take over the facilities in terms of human resources and resource mobilization to help with the transition.

For the transition to take place smoothly, the County Government through the Department of Health and Sanitation is seeking partner support to upgrade the Natukobenyo Health Center into a Level 4 facility through building in-patient wards and improving the theater. At Locherengamor dispensary, the department is seeking support in terms of a labor ward and supporting staff such as a nurse in order for it to be upgraded to a Level 3 facility.

The CECM reiterated that for sustainability, it would require IRC to handover the facility together with the financial support in order to ensure that both the refugee and host communities feel supported. He explained that the county government does not currently have budgetary allocation for the two facilities.

He further explained that over time, the financial support would reduce as the county government would have put in place the required systems and budgetary allocations to the additional two facilities.

The IRC Country Director, Hussein stated that IRC is part of the transition committee, and the purpose of their meeting was to meet the department of Health team to understand the broader picture of the transition plan and gauge how IRC can support the County Government during the transition.

“We work with governments and communities to strengthen systems, and we are here to discuss how IRC can support this transition process,” he stated.

CECM Epem mentioned that the transition plan is ongoing with a team in place working on the transition process, stating that the gazettement of these facilities was already done, and the next stages will include the gazettement of the committees that will run the two as government facilities.

Hussein reiterated that to ensure a smooth transition, all the challenges and potential obstacles should be discussed and guided by the Ministry of Health guidelines.

Explaining that health funding is distributed based on the number of people registered, the CECM called for registration of about 300,000 within Kakuma and Kalobeyei refugee camps in the Social Health Authority scheme.

In addition, the Chief Officer, Medical Services, Dr Ezekiel Etelej stated, “All these will boil down to financial obligations. What is not clear is where the accompanying resources will come from”.

Dr Joseph Epem also highlighted the importance of the national government to be involved in the transition process in order to guide how the county will accommodate the refugee community who have never had to be budgeted for under the devolved system.

“It is important for the national government to increase funding to the County Government of Turkana so that we are able to accommodate and plan for the additional population and provide for the facilities,” he stated.

As the meeting came to a close, it was agreed that there are a number of benefits to both the host and refugee communities upon completion of the transition process including free healthcare services through Social Health Insurance Fund.

Resource sharing was also agreed upon to address the existing challenges that exist on both ends including sharing gynecological and anesthetic human resource services on rotating arrangement in order to serve populations across different sub-counties.

The meeting involved a number of senior officers from IRC and directors, deputy directors, and department heads from the Department of Health and Sanitation who shared their concerns and proposed solutions.