We had a sit-down with the current President of the Kenya Medical Association (KMA) Dr. Were Andrew Onyino. Dr. Onyino has been at the help of KMA for about 18 months and is currently seeking re-election as the President of the Association.
Dr. Onyino is a man of both few words and many words depending on how you choose to engage him. Open and easy to flow around with whoever knows and understands his line of thought. He says little if you say little, and he says more if you say more.
“I believe in honesty, consistency, and truth. I believe in equity and in the well-being of all human beings. As doctors, we deal with what I can call remolding and “repairing” of the body. We are the mechanics of the body with there being nothing else but perfection,” he said.
Dr. Were’s latest campaign posters:
Dr. Were Andrew Onyino is a Consultant Plastics, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeon working in the National Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi. He is a graduate of the University of Nairobi, School of Medicine where he also did his MBChB degree.
Dr. Were is also trained in Public Health in Complex Emergencies from Makerere University and is a fellow in Capacity Building for Effective Health, Human Resource for Health track (CBEH-HRH) from the German Cooperation.
He co-authored the manual for training County Health Management Teams at the onset of the devolution of health in Kenya.
Dr. Were has a long track record in leadership and advocacy having held several leadership positions in the health sector. He continues to champion the welfare of doctors and the provision of quality healthcare in our country through the Kenya Medical Association (KMA) where he serves as the Honorary President of the organization and represents Kenya in the World Medical Association (WMA) and Commonwealth National Medical Associations (CANMA)through the membership of his professional association.
He is experienced in health regulation matters having served in the KMPDC between 2014-and 2019 where he was instrumental in the development of transformative policies and regulations for medical doctors in Kenya.
He has also represented Kenya in AMCOA where he participated in the reforms seen in the regulation of professionals and the practice in Africa.
In his current role, he has been instrumental in the reform agenda by the MOH in the regulation of the practice of Medicine and Doctors in the sector. He successfully championed and advocated for professional autonomy in practice and decision-making in the MOH Boards and Council through lobbying for the enactment of a more professional-friendly Health amendment Bill 2021 and the NHIF Amendment Act 2021.
He is currently serving as a Director on the NHIF Board where he was appointed by the Cabinet Secretary of Health in recognition of his contribution to reforming the health sector in Kenya.
He is the Founder and CEO of Daktari Media Africa LLC which runs Daktari Online, a leading African online medical resource portal serving more than 50000 doctors & HCPs that aims to provide quality medical education content for HCPs in Africa that is locally generated and relevant to our region.
