Deeksha Gupta

With over two decades of conflict, DRC went through much damage to its infrastructure despite the great wealth and resources. Now, as calm and peace is taking effect, the government and the people of DRC are determined to build their country to a stable, economically endowed and prosperous nation. It is evident that healthy population is a key pillar in achieving that kind of a nation.   DRC has an estimated population of 85 million people as at July 2018 with 63% of the population being under the age of 24 and another 31% being between 25 – 54 years. This clearly shows that DRC is made up of a generally young population of productive ages. This is the population that must remain healthy to build the country to a latter glory. Remaining healthy is paramount for the rebuilding of the nation.     Being an investor, Jayesh Saini says there is great potential in healthcare industry –in development of infrastructure for pharmaceutical manufacturing, healthcare service ...

  DR SWARUP MISHRA He is the Chairman and Founder of Mediheal Group of Hospital s. He travelled from Odisha (formerly Orissa) in eastern India to Kenya, East Africa and in 1997 alongside his wife who is also a medical practitioner they settled in a town called Eldoret. His medical career in Kenya started by him being employed as lecturer in one of the local universities. In 2005 he decided to venture in private practice and acquired what is now referred to as Mediheal Group of Hospitals with hospitals/clinics in the towns of Eldoret , Nakuru and Nairobi. Among the services they provide include: laboratory, ART, ENT, physiotherapy, dental, Ophthalmology, Obstetrics & Gynecology and orthopedics. Dr Mishra is now settled in Kenya and is even a politician. DR UMESH CHANDRA SAINI The camera shy and highly private Dr Saini is the Chairman and Founder of The Nairobi West Hospital. A Kenyan Indian by naturalization, he was born in Kaimganj, Uttar Pradesh, India. He went to Kenya ...

  There is a saying that necessity is the mother of creation and that it is in hard times that greatest innovations come to fore or the ones little appreciated gain recognition and adoption. The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought to the limelight the importance of non-physical contact health services delivery especially in Africa where the notion of E-Health has been shunned by many saying that it practicing medicine without being touched by physician is not medicine. Talking about E-health, Jayesh Saini notes this was an idea whose time for embrace had come and for acceptability COVID-19 happened. He said that E-health has provided very good measures to help mitigate the spread of the corona virus while assisting those affected or infected by the same. He furthermore pointed out that the pandemic has affected not just the healthcare sector but other sectors and has affected service delivery to people with other ailments, bringing great fear that is deterring people from seeking ...

Africa is considered the most profitable continent to do business, with great potential for diverse business due to the available resources. This is seen through the number of foreign investors that come to the continent for various business projects. This has led to many countries of Africa becoming more and more open to the rest of the world. Still, Africa has nations that are more economically stable than others. It hosts 21 of the 25 poorest countries globally, making just slightly less than 50% of the continent’s number of countries. With this kind of poverty level, even where healthcare is being considered a priority, it is difficult to meet the required standards of healthcare set by the governments and international bodies. For some of these nations, attaining the SDGs and the UHC goals is a pipe dream. Health infrastructure in these countries is limited. There are records of deaths from diseases that could have been prevented were the requisite healthcare infrastructure and re...

 Since 2009, every year on the 25th of September, the world celebrates World Pharmacist Day. The day was created by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Council at the World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Istanbul, Turkey in 2009.   Every year, the FIP has a theme for the celebration. This year, the theme is “Pharmacy: Always trusted for your health.” With so many different days set aside for different people groups or activities, it would be interesting to know who a pharmacist is and why there would be a theme talking about their work as trusted for people’s health. appreciating the pharmacy departments of hospitals and stand-alone chemists/pharmacies, Jayesh Saini says that this is a group of medics that have a very critical part to play in health service delivery where sometimes it can mean life or death. He pointed out that when a physician issues a prescription for medication to a patient, it is taken to the pharmacist to dispens...

 The COVID-19 pandemic has without a doubt become one of the greatest teachers of our times globally and at local levels that working together yields better returns on efforts put in.   Whereas in the past it has been each health service provider for themselves, collaboration amongst providers has been key in averting deaths and worsening of health conditions. Observing the situation in Kenya, Jayesh Saini, a Kenyan national says that hospitals were reaching out to each for supplies such as oxygen, blood, antibiotics, masks, gloves, and even ICU beds. He pointed out how appeals on social media or other mediums of communication were acted upon with such solidarity, all aimed at saving lives.   Kenyans are known as resilient people who put their differences aside in times of calamity and during this COVID-19 pandemic has been on another level. Individuals and organisations have come out in large numbers to donate blood. For-profit organisations have kept aside their...

 More and more, people are learning great lessons from the current COVID-19 pandemic. There is an exposure to the faults and weaknesses in the health care system, whether in developed or developing economies. The inequalities between the two economies are undeniable in so far as the infrastructure and resources available.   It looks like suddenly decision-makers have realized how important the medical professionals are in the success of health facilities. Interestingly, governments realized that their sometimes-unorthodox way of handling this group of people could not work and many had to accept some demands that had been pending for years just to save lives.   The pandemic has brought to the fore that a good infrastructure without sufficient medical personnel does not take care of patients; both are important and none should be preferred over the other but should be developed together. Governments have had to recall medics from leaves and even hire those who have...

Even with the advancement of free information through many media platforms, there remains a group of people who do not have any trust or confidence in generic drugs. Their outlook is based on the cheaper pricing of the generics and concludes that they must be inferior to branded drugs in quality and efficacy. This has at times caused untold friction between service providers and recipients as when accused of prescribing or dispensing “fake” medications. In some instances, there has been no understanding even when the pharmacists explain that the pricing has nothing to do with the quality or efficacy. There are also those who will adamantly ask for branded drugs because they believe it gives them a higher status. There is still another group that will request generics, by knowledge and others because it is much cheaper than brand. So why all the confusion? According to Jayesh Saini, this is mainly brought about by a lack of proper information to the masses regarding why generics are c...

 Unlike other pandemics experienced globally, the COVID-19 Pandemic has brought into light the misfortune of having delayed communication on what is happening. Over one year later, one of the reasons why some people do not follow instructions given to deter the spread of the virus has been as a result of contradictory information being released by governments and healthcare decision-makers.   This has unfortunately led to conspiracy theories taking place amid truths, and the theorists seem to have been more forceful in their campaigns. For example, it is common knowledge that developing vaccines normally takes years of R&D before a vaccine can be rolled out to the masses. The duration for the COVID-19 vaccines to be researched, developed, manufactured, tested, and rolled out took less than a couple of months. The relevant bodies, in the worst-case scenario, should have explained to the masses what is different about this particular virus/vaccine, besides the magnitud...

The Majority  of people believe that health services should be offered in a fixed/static building. This notion is ingrained because that is what people have grown up knowing and seeing. The mention of mobile health clinics invokes various emotions dependent on the people groups; for those in urban areas where there are clinics and hospitals, it would be a raw deal to be told to access services in a mobile clinic while to one in a remote place with no facilities, a mobile clinic would be a Godsent. A mobile health clinic is a vehicle e.g. a bus, trailer, or container that is innovatively modified and equipped with facilities and medical personnel needed to provide certain health services. The services and medical personnel are dependent on factors such as the size of the clinic and the target population. Services available can include doctor consultation, laboratory, pharmacy, and triage. Commenting on the use of mobile health clinics, Jayesh Saini stated that the main purpose of ...

 There continues to be an increased demand for quality, affordable and easily accessible medical services in Kenya. This is mainly attributed to increased and improved awareness of need to keep healthy as more severe conditions surface needing urgent attention. More lifestyle diseases are prompting many people to want to be sure they can access services without delay when needed. The demand for services has caused providers to rethink their models of operation. In the past, only the government was known to have facilities distributed geographically across most towns in the country. This has now changed as the demand for continuity and consistency has increased. Service providers have resorted to have branches in others towns besides where their head office or main facility is located. This is not only to have more patients attend the facilities but also to allow their existing clients have the same quality of services across various regions. This provides comfort and convenience ...

The majority of people believe that health services should be offered in a fixed/static building. This notion is ingrained because that is what people have grown up knowing and seeing. The mention of mobile health clinics invokes various emotions dependent on the people groups; for those in urban areas where there are clinics and hospitals, it would be a raw deal to be told to access services in a mobile clinic while to one in a remote place with no facilities, a mobile clinic would be a Godsent. A mobile health clinic is a vehicle e.g.   a bus, trailer or container that is innovatively modified and equipped with facilities and medical personnel needed to provide certain health services. The services and medical personnel are dependent on factors such as the size of the clinic and the target population. Services available can include doctor consultation, laboratory, pharmacy, and triage. Commenting on the use of mobile health clinics, Jayesh Saini stated that the main purpose...

 Undoubtedly, the pandemic has brought upon many individuals and institutions great losses in terms of finances, time and resources across various sectors besides the emotional trauma that has cut across all people. When the reality of the pandemic hit nations, there was a shift from unbelief of its existence to panic. At household level, in panic and wanting to buffer from potential long seasons of lockdowns and catastrophic impact of availability of resources, many families went on over-purchase of food stuffs, toiletries and whatever they considered critical. By mid-late 2020, when names of drugs being used for intervention started getting into the public domain, individuals joined the aforementioned trends and there was mass purchase of drugs either to treat symptoms or for preventive measures. Drugs like HCQ, Ivermectin and Azithromycin suddenly became a must have commodity amongst many besides food supplements including Zinc, Vitamins C and D. Inevitably, with increased ...