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The National Assembly Health Committee has lauded the multi-billion shilling health equipment project rolled out in all counties three years ago.
The committee, which went to Thika Level 5 Hospital on a fact-finding mission on Friday, said it was impressed with the programme’s achievement so far.
The Managed Equipment Service (MES) Project, announced by the Government in 2015, covers radiology infrastructure modernisation in 94 county hospitals across 47 counties and four national referral hospitals.
Committee chair Sabina Chege said in the past they had questions concerning the project which were not answered satisfactorily by the relevant authorities.
“If what we have seen here at Thika Level 5 is what is happening to other hospitals, then the programme is a success,” Ms Chege said.
Concerns
The MP said the committee will visit all the 98 hospitals countrywide which received the equipment to ascertain whether they were working.
Last year, MPs ordered the audit of the Sh38 billion programme following concerns that services had been hampered by uninstalled equipment as well as inadequate staff in some hospitals.
“We have received some reports that three years down the line, some hospitals are yet to utilise the equipment and so we will go and see for ourselves as a committee,” she said.
Under the MES programme, three hospitals in Kiambu County, Thika Level Five, Kiambu Level Five and Gatundu Level Five were equipped with modern diagnostic machines for theatre, sterilisation, imaging, renal dialysis units, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and MRI centres.
The committee also gave a clean bill of health to the contractor installing CT scan machines at the hospital.
The government in May launched Computed Topography (CT) scan units supply and installation programme for 37 county hospitals.
Thika Level Five hospital is one of the beneficiaries of the CT scan programme.
Under the programme, the Government has contracted Neusoft Medical Systems, Chinese Medical Equipment Manufacturing Company and Megascope Healthcare, which is their local partners, under a government-to-government collaboration with China.
The collaboration will see 37 radiologists and radiographers travel to China for training on use of the machines.
The CT Scan programme complements the government’s MES programme and the MRI centres that have benefited national and county referral hospitals.
Megascope Director Richard Ngatia who is installing the CT scan unit at the Thika hospital told the committee that the project was 90 per cent complete.
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