Relief as Nairobi public hospitals get Sh58m health equipment

Nairobi residents will be in for better health services after Nairobi county governors distributed medical equipment to public hospitals.

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja on Tuesday flagged off medical equipment worth Sh58 million to Level two, three and four hospitals.

He said the distribution of the equipment demonstrated his administration's commitment to fulfilling his manifesto of top-notch and better health services.

"Being here today affirms our commitment to provide top-notch health care to the people of Nairobi. Our administration has continued to ensure that our hospitals have medicines and medical equipment," Sakaja said.

The health commodities flagged off included medical equipment and medical supplies.

Others include delivery beds, digital portable X-ray machines, ECG machines, patient monitors, dialysis machines, vaccines, refrigerators, nebulizers and other key equipment aimed at improving diagnosis and treatment of diseases in health facilities.

The Governor noted that the equipment will reduce the burden on Nairobi's healthcare professionals in diagnosis and make the tasks more efficient and less physically taxing.

Deputy Governor Njoroge Muchiri on the other hand noted that it was a milestone that the county has provided the equipment to health centres.

"We are continuing on a journey to ensure that hospitals are well equipped with the right equipment and able to serve the people of Nairobi and beyond its borders," he said.

He emphasized that Governor Sakaja's led administration will ensure that through proper equipment in health facilities, will ensure that employment creation will stand out as well as proper medication services.

Early this year, in March, Nairobi county hospitals received their first batch of drugs after a three-year dry spell.

Governor Sakaja flagged off the health products and other supplies from KEMSA worth Sh244 million, which were distributed to 118 health facilities within the County.

The three years of acute shortages were occasioned by the non-supply of essential medicines and other supplies. The last drug supplies were received in March 2020.

The distribution of the consignment was actualized by negotiations and settlement of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) debt of Sh185.1 million.

The move by the Sakaja-led administration ended a four-year row between the Nairobi county government and the state agency.

The commodities flagged off comprised of  70 per cent of the essential commodities, 20 per cent of vital commodities - for emergencies and 10 per cent of small equipment and linen.

The move has ended a four-year row between the Nairobi county government and the state agency.

Kemsa and the county government have been embroiled in a tussle over this debt since 2017.

That year, the authority stopped supplying medicine to Nairobi county hospitals over Sh285 million in debt, forcing patients to buy drugs and other medical supplies from private hospitals and chemists.

It took the intervention of President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Health CS Sicily Kariuki for Kemsa to resume supplies in 2018.

However, the tussle arose again in 2019 when former Governor Mike Sonko announced it was considering turning to other drug suppliers to stock its health centres, accusing Kemsa of being unreliable.

The debt then stood at Sh300 million.

However, in October 2020, City Hall paid Sh166.9 million to the agency to offset part of the then Sh353 million debt.

Out of this, Sh120 million was to go towards settling the debt while Sh46 million was for a fresh supply of medicine to county health facilities.

This is after Kemsa said out of Sh2.8 billion owed to them by seven counties, Nairobi topped the list with Sh353 million debt.

After the payment, Kemsa made Sh66.93 million supply to the top four county hospitals including Mama Lucy Hospital, Pumwani Maternity, Mbagathi and Mutuini, and other health centres across the capital.