All across Korogocho slums, access to functional health systems is not equitable or sustainable. Disparities have always existed, and have gotten worse over time.  To access basic healthcare, many patients, especially those who live in slum areas, frequently must travel a great distance. When they arrive at a hospital they are only per- mitted to obtain medical attention if they pay for receive it. Inevitably, many patients may choose not to receive treatment because they are unable to pay for it, and those who do may find the expense prohibitive and the service’s scope severely con- strained.

 

The significant  health  issues  and  diagnoses  in Korogocho, as well as the variations in those issues and diagnoses, demonstrate that environmental factors can have a significant impact on health status. In order to improve health status, environmental modifications are crucial. Due to the extremely high prevalence of respiratory ailments and gastrointestinal issues, Korogocho could benefit from changes in waste management, drinking water supply, and air pollution reduction more than from basic treatment.

VPM has been forced to cut down health services to outpatient now that the cost is too high. We offer treatment only during the day and close during the night. We also cannot afford to provide free medical camps. We sadly had to release one member of staff because we could not afford having two at the clinic.

Vision Peoples Medical Centre has had one of the busiest times in the COVID 19 pandemic period and still experiences high flow of patients seeking medical attention. This was brought about when government hospitals would test patients for COVID 19 as part of tests before treatment could be administered. When found to be COVID 19 positive, patients were forced into quarantine for 14 days without going back home for the fear of spreading the virus. This brought a lot of fear in the citizens by abrupt confinement from families testing positive for COVID 19. Therefore, most patients chose to go for health treatments to private/mission health institutions. VPM medical centre has largely continued to offer both curative and preventative health services. We still offer inpatient services in our small ward capacity of 8 beds, laboratory services and maternity including outpatient department.

Most prevalent diseases VPM offers treatments to include; malaria, pneumonia, asthma, skin diseases, meningitis, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), wound cuts caused by mugging in Korogocho streets. The VPM clinic faces a shortage of supply of medicine. We invite our supporters to help VPM stabilize our minimal free medical service to the poor children who cannot afford our very small charges.