Msambweni County Referral Hospital in Kwale is facing acute shortage of staff, poor infrastructure maintenance and malfunction of critical equipment, the Senate Health committee has said.
Committee chairman Jackson Mandago said most of the equipment used by the hospital for renal dialysis, theatre and ICU are old and have surpassed their lifespan.
"We have realised these equipment have served for more than seven years, surpassing their recommended lifespan," he said.
Mandago made the remarks in Msambweni, when the team toured the county to inspect the status of several facilities.
He said the medical equipment are poorly maintained for lack of proper funding.
Mandago said many equipment used were under the Managed Equipment Services project, whose deal was signed between the national government and the private sector service providers.
He said there has been a major headache in terms of who pays the maintenance fees, since the contract period expired, and the contract was between the Ministry of Health and the private sector, not the county.
Mandago said there are numerous potholes in and around the county referral hospital, as well as many broken medical equipment that have been discarded improperly.
He urged the county to put in place mechanism to replace the worn out equipment without waiting for the national government.
Mandago urged the county to take advantage of the facility financing law to improve health services and development.
"The Senate passed a law that allows whatever money is collected in this health facility to go to the hospital account and not the county revenue account to help with its management," he said.
Mandago said the hospital should be facilitated to run its operations by forming a special board chaired by the CEO.
The Senator for Uasin Gishu also urged health practitioners to allow the national government and counties to hire them on internship or contract basis to boost workforce and professionalism.
"We want to have serious discussions with medical practitioners on how we can increase health workers, despite financial constraints," he said.
The lawmaker said medical practitioners fresh from colleges can be taken as interns and employed later in phases as they gain experience.
Mandago said the field of medicine is very critical and graduates must be given a better platform to practice, instead of them staying home waiting for permanent employment.
He said in many cases, the country loses good health workers because of long periods of unemployment as some lose interest in the medical field and venture into other professions.
Senate Health Committee member Raphael Chimera urged the county government to invest more on health.
He said he is aware of the great strides the county has made in the health sector, but more must be done for residents to continue getting good services.
County assembly health committee member Hanifa Mwajirani pleaded with the government to increase county allocations.
She said the county is has a shortage of staff because of little resources.
Mwajirani said the county assembly of Kwale will pump more money to health in the 2024-25 budget.
Health executive Francis Gwama said the county will put into consideration the proposed amendments to strengthen health services.
