The acting Director General at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Patrick Omwanda Amoth has become a household name following the Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya.
Dr. Amoth became the first Kenya to receive the Covid-19 vaccine on Friday.
He has been an unmistakable presence at various briefings and continues to be a respected voice in matters of public health.
The articulate government official is a trained Obstetrics/ Gynaecology specialist.
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Education
Dr. Amoth received his education at the University of Nairobi (UoN). First obtaining a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree in Medicine (MBBS) and later a Masters degree in Medicine in the field of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (MMed).
Career
The accomplished DG has been working in the Ministry of Health for over 10 years.
He started out at the Nyanza Provincial Hospital in Kisumu, where he worked as a Medical Officer between March 1993 and October 1997.
He would later move to Kenyatta National Hospital where he served in the Obs/Gyn Department as the Senior House Officer between November 1997 and February 2001.
Dr. Amoth has held a series of supervisory roles under the Ministry of Health since 2003.
For eight years, he served as a District Medical Services Officer in Kiambu East and Kiambu West districts and he was later moved to Machakos Level V Hospital.
He was the Chief Medical Specialist in the Obs/Gyn Department at the referral hospital until November 2011.
His wealth of experience saw him appointed as the Senior Deputy Director of Medical Services and Chief Medical Specialist at the Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital between April 2012 and October 2012.
Dr. Amoth joined the Ministry of Health on a full-time basis in November 2012. Until September 2016 he was the Head of the Family Health Department in the ministry.
Between 2016 and January 2018 he served as the Head of the Department of Health Sector Coordination and Intergovernmental Affairs.
In February 2018 he took over the Directorate of Public Health and within the year he had risen to the position of acting Director-General for Health in Kenya.
Awards
The acting DG became one of the inaugural recipients of the presidential Order of Service Award, otherwise named as the Uzalendo Award.
He was also appointed as the Vice President of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO).
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