The Standard Group Plc is a
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Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key
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Owners of chemists and laboratories outside Mama Lucy Hospital in Nairobi attempt to salvage debris left after bulldozers from county authority destroyed their businesses in Umoja, Nairobi. [David Njaaga/Standard]
More than 30 chemists, clinics and laboratories near the Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital were yesterday demolished.
The demolition was conducted by the Nairobi County government a day after the hospital management filed a formal complaint at City Hall over the mushrooming facilities it claimed had tarnished its reputation.
According to the owners of the destroyed establishments, they were not issued with notices to vacate.
“I wonder why they had to raze our businesses yet we are neither sitting on riparian land nor on a road reserve. The proper way of doing this would have been to inform us so that we move out,” said Caroline Karori, the owner of one of the chemists.
Ms Karori told The Standard that she had suffered a loss of Sh300,000.
“We are now knee-deep in debt to our creditors and we have run out of options on what to do,” she added.
On Tuesday, the management of Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital urged the Nairobi County Government to revoke the licences of all drug shops in its vicinity.
Some patients had complained that they had been tricked by some of the hospital's staff to buy drugs from the chemists.
The hospital’s superintendent, Musa Mohammed, wrote to the county government seeking its intervention over the “mushrooming of clinics and pharmacies”.
In a letter dated August 6 and addressed to the acting chief officer of health services, Thomas Ogaro, Mr Mohammed says: “The purpose of this letter is to request the intervention of the county government, through its various arms like licensing department, to withdraw the licences of facilities across the hospital.”
The superintendent accused the clinics and drug shops of directing the hospital’s clients to their facilities, thereby tarnishing the institution's reputation.
The Standard Group Plc is a
multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper
print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key
influence in matters of national and international interest.
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