Murang'a health facilities to retain 30 per cent of revenue

Health facilities in Murang’a will now retain 30 per cent of the revenue they collect to help them offset their basic operations.

Previously, all revenue would be consolidated at the county headquarters and the county would then disburse supplies to the hospitals.

Governor Irungu Kang’ata said this left the facilities without funds to buy basic but vital commodities such as matchboxes and had to wait for the disbursements from the county government.

This, he said, forced the facilities to sometimes go for long without offering food to patients, forcing relatives to feed their admitted relatives.

“Our hospitals will no longer have to rely on the county government for all its operations. This will make it easy for them to operate,” he said.

The governor said the devolved unit is making effort to reach out to patients to get information on the kind of services they access in local hospitals.

This, he said, has been made possible by the automation of a revenue collection system that records each patient that is attended to in local health facilities.

“We call them and make a list of the drugs that patients report not finding in hospitals so we can liaise with hospitals’ management who find out why the drugs are not available,” he said.

He said since the county entered an agreement with Kenya Medical Supplies Agency, it has been able to supply adequate and good quality drugs to public hospitals.

Kang’ata spoke in Murang’a town on January 1 during New Year’s celebrations organized by the county government.

The governor took the opportunity to give out NHIF cards to some of the 20,000 benefiting households.

Once they receive the cards, beneficiaries will immediately use them to access both inpatient and outpatient services under the Sh170 million Kang’ata Care programme.

“Considering an average family has a father, mother and three children, this programme will cover about 100,000 residents,” he said.

The governor also issued gift hampers to needy families as part of the celebrations.

He said the county has a lot to be thankful for especially the peaceful polls experienced last year.

Kang’ata lauded locals for the contributions they have made towards the attainment of democracy in the country, citing late politicians Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia for helping to fight for multi-partyism.