It is a new dawn for thousands of residents of Mukuru Kwa Njenga Ward following the unveiling of a low-cost community pharmacy in the informal settlement of Embakasi South on Wednesday.
The joint project between the County Government of Nairobi and Shining Hope For Communities (SHOFCO), a community-based organization, will see residents of the slum settlement access drugs at half the regular cost.
The new pharmacy is set to reduce the cost of transport and distance covered by residents in search for drugs.
Shofco Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Kennedy Odede said the unveiling of the community pharmacy will help a huge population seeking treatment daily.
“Community pharmacies, a concept widely used in developed countries, is the future of healthcare in a setting, like Kenya’s where populations are poor,” he said during the unveiling of the pharmacy.
The Pharmacy also consists of blood; diabetes, as well as HIV and AIDS testing units.
In the Western world, community-based pharmacies also include outpatient pharmacies that are found within health systems.
Dr. Odede said besides coming up with a digital health hub within the pharmacy- to help patients access healthcare services from the comfort of their houses, plans are afoot to partner with the government in adopting a public health facility, instead of starting from scratch to build new facilities.
“In this kind of arrangement, the government brings in the medical staff, and as an organization, we will invest in making it sustainable, clean, and comfortable for the staff and patients,” he said.
There are only three dispensaries in the area which are not sufficient for the huge population.
Dr. Odede further said his organization is glad to partner with both the county government and national government to provide medical services not only in Mukuru but also in Kibera and Mathare slums.
He said his organization will discuss with Governor Johnson Sakaja to see which facilities need to be improved, especially with medical supplies and infrastructure.
The SHOFCO Founder said the Pharmacy will serve as a model, and if it succeeds then it will be replicated across other slums in Nairobi and other parts of Kenya.
“We work closely with the county government, to supplement them because public health facilities do not have adequate drugs.
"So through such partnerships, Shofco is investing a small amount of money in such a facility, and if this succeeds as a model, we can expand to other places," he said.
Mukuru Kwa Njenga Member of County Assembly, Francis Kimondo welcomed the unveiling of the facility, saying it is a huge relief to the members of the Community.
“This is because a random spot check of the prices shows that they are halfway what other retail pharmacies charge, meaning affordability will not be an issue to this community,” he said.
Odede noted that the organization will utilize the Sh300 to be paid to the Social Health Insurance to make it sustainable.