East African Community (EAC) citizens go to foreign countries for advanced treatment, resulting in spending abroad the resources that could help regional growth, activists said as they petitioned the regional parliament for action to strengthen local capacity, on March 12.

The petition by the Africa Coalition on Public Service on the deteriorating state of public services in the East African partner states, concerns the poor state of public services in the East African partner states, according to a related document.

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The petition was submitted to the East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA), currently sitting in Nairobi, Kenya, on March 12, by the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER) which hosts the Africa Coalition on Public Services – composed of over 500 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and individuals that advocate for gender-responsive, accountable, inclusive, and quality public services across Africa.

East Africa Community partner states, to date, struggle with weak public health services and inadequately equipped public schools, lack of access to clean and safe water, expensive and often inaccessible electricity, and limited social protection, petitioners observed.

"We the undersigned draw the attention of the East Africa Legislative Assembly to the deteriorating state of public services within partner states of the East Africa Community, resulting in severe socio-economic inequalities, delayed development and hindered attainment of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals,” the petitioners said in their appeal.

On policy crises, the petition indicated that Covid-19 pandemic, high cost of living, and climate change underscore why EAC partner states must pay greater attention to socio-economic rights, particularly strengthening public service delivery in key sectors like health, education, and social protection.

Allana Kembabazi, programme manager at Initiative for Social and Economic Rights said public service such as quality and affordable healthcare is a priority, and it is critical for the region to attain effective market integration, and socio-economic development market integration.

Talking about the medical oxygen crisis during Covid-19, she said that her cousin died in a public health facility "simply because they lacked oxygen”.

While, under the Abuja Declaration recommendations, African countries committed themselves to allocate 15 percent of their budget to the health sector, none of EAC countries has done that, she said.

Current health spending in Africa is $188 per capita compared to $4,000 in high-income countries, they argued, the petitioners argued.

East Africans have become ‘medical tourists’

EALA MP Blacks Gerald Siranda said that the East African Community is a people-centered community but observed that "if people do not have better healthcare, they can never be productive in this region. If we cannot educate our people properly in the region, we can never have them contribute to the growth of the region that we want.”

"We have become [medical] tourists. My own daughter went to India to do treatment. We are always in India, in America; and we believe that as parliament we’ve done well, we can argue with our partner states, as EALA, to put a lot of our resources into improving the public services, public schools and all those,” he said.

As he received the petition, EALA Speaker Joseph Ntakirutimana said that it is good to defend EAC citizens’ rights.

"I am very happy that what you are defending is what I feel I could defend,” he said.

The petition will be analysed and deliberated on by EALA.

How is Rwanda faring?

For the case of Rwanda, the country has been investing in epidemic preparedness, including medical oxygen which is critical as it is needed for the treatment of patients in ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and emergency cases – who need respiratory assistance.

For instance, according to information from the Ministry of Health, Rwanda increased by three times its pre-Covid-19 medical oxygen production capacity [before March 2020], such that it currently has enough to support patients in need.

Data from the Ministry of Health shows that medical oxygen production capacity in public health facilities was 182Nm3/h (normal cubic metres per hour as a unit of oxygen measurement) before Covid-19, and it rose to 642Nm3/h after Covid-19.

As the effective use of medical oxygen is closely connected to the availability of ventilators, the country increased them from 39 full-option ventilators before Covid-19 to 122 full-option ventilators, and 100 transport (portable) ventilators in public health facilities, the data added.

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Again, according to the Ministry of Health, Rwanda is positioning itself as a medical hub in the region – with developments such as the introduction of kidney transplant services in 2023, and effort in heart surgery and advanced cancer treatment.