Governor Cecily Mbarire on Friday urged MCAs to pass legislation making Embu Level 5 hospital "a free-running parastatal" to improve services.
She said lack of enough funding and poor management are the main problems in the health sector.
Speaking at the hospital on a fact-finding mission, she said her administration will introduce a bill to make the facility a parastatal, a state-owned facility.
"We're going to crack the whip [in the health sector]. It's a matter between life and death because our people are dying due to lack of proper health services," Kirimari MCA Ibrahim Swaleh Swaleh said.
He urged fellow lawmakers to unite and pass the necessary legislation.
Mbarire said Sh500 million has been deducted from staff salaries but not remitted.
"The government has been making statutory deductions and loan repayments from staff but they haven't remitted the same to necessary institutions," she said.
"This is quite demoralising," the governor said.
She said her administration will rectify the problem to ensure services start fresh and provide the Embu residents with decent healthcare.
The former Runyenjes MP said the health sector will improve significantly in the near future.
"We need to look deeply into this hospital and others," Mbarire said. "This is just the beginning and we hope to see a real change in the coming weeks."
Deputy Governor Justus Kinyua said services at the county's topmost public health facility are hampered by uncompleted structures.
