Team selected to review sh63 billion MES deal in counties

KNH Chairman George Ooko when he appeared before the National Assembly Health Committee. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

A team has been picked to look into the Sh63 billion Managed Equipment Services (MES) deal that sought to upgrade medical infrastructure in counties.

The team, led by Kenyatta National Hospital board chair George Ooko, has members drawn from the Ministry of Health, National Treasury, Council of Governors, Kenyatta University and The University of Nairobi.

The team was inaugurated on Thursday by Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe and comes just months after the Senate Adhoc Committee ruled in September that the deal was questionable. The verdict was made in a 395-page document which was forwarded to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission(EACC).

A statement from Kagwe which described the project as noble acknowledged that it did face some challenges in its implementation like power, training of staff to operate the equipment and upgrading of physical structures.

“The new team is expected to among other things, review the challenges affecting the implementation, and consider ways of not only improving on operations of the equipment, but also ensuring that all other factors necessary for the successful implementation of the project are addressed,” read the statement from the CS in part.

State of art equipment

The project was meant to have each county benefit from supply and installation of theatre, renal, laboratory, and radiology equipment.

Intensive care unit which was also part of package was installed in 11 facilities.

“The 11 are the high-volume level IV facilities spread around the country. Overall, the project provided county hospitals with specialised equipment which has significantly improved critical care,” the statement adds.

The project, however, has been marred with claims of being a sink hole used to siphon funds through tenders as some of the equipment in a number of counties are either not in use or are yet to be installed.

The claims are based on the increasing cost of the deal which has moved from Sh38 billion to Sh43.2 billion and now Sh63 billion.

Initially, according to a 2018 Senate report, counties were paying Sh95 million under the scheme and the figure was revised upwards to Sh200 million raising the cumulative payment by counties -which are deducted directly from county allocation-from Sh4.5 billion to Sh9.4 billion annually.

The MES equipment deal is expected to end in 2022 and it is not clear how the modalities of contractual agreements will be with the suppliers and managers of the equipment.

The seven-year deal was signed on February 2015 and has a provision of three year extension.

The inauguration ceremony was virtually attended by the Council of Governors (CoG) chair Wycliffe Oparanya and CoG health committee chair and Isiolo Governor Mohammed Kuti.

“Operationalisation of the equipment is an excellent idea and must be supported moving forward. I now have a working renal unit in Isiolo and we are very happy with it,” Kuti said.

On his part, Oparanya commended the Ministry of Health for involving the County Governments in the matter pointing out that this was the way to go.