Six senior officers to face action for healthcare sabotage

A eye sore in one of the sections at the Kerugoya Maternity Ward which has prompted the health professionals to issue a 72 hour ultimatum to the county government to address the matter. [Munene Kamau /Standard]

A task force Governor Anne Waiguru appointed to look into the crisis in the health sector has identified six senior officers said to have been sabotaging service delivery.

The said officers will face a disciplinary committee before the next cause of action against them is decided.

The nine-man task force was constituted last Sunday and given 72 hours to report its findings on what is ailing the county's health sector.

Yesterday, Ms Waiguru, after touring the Kerugoya Referral Hospital, said the six officers were yet to be notified of the impending disciplinary action.

“I have just received the report from the task force and another one from the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board. Both have identified six senior officers, but procedure requires that their names be made public once all the disciplinary procedures are in place," she said.

Waiguru also claimed the issue had been politicised by those eyeing her seat in 2022 at the expense of patients.

She also said other than the collapsed general hygiene of healthcare facilities and whose glory has been restored, the laboratory section personnel were a let down to the patients.

The governor said the personnel had never presented payments for reagent supplies to the procurement department leading to total collapse of the section.

“This now explains why patients have always been referred to private laboratories where they are charged exorbitantly," she said.