- Governor Abdullahi regretted that when grave issues like theft occur, elders throng his office in defence of the culprits, curtailing justice's course.
- His warning comes barely days after hospital equipment’s allegedly belonging to Giriftu Hospital in Wajir West were allegedly stolen.
Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi has fired a warning shot at county staff who collude with unscrupulous business people to steal drugs and medical equipment meant for public hospitals.
He said such people will be arrested and subjected to a court of law adding out-of-court settlement will not be tolerated.
His warning comes barely days after hospital equipment’s allegedly belonging to Giriftu Hospital in Wajir West were allegedly stolen with some recent supplies meant for the facility remaining unaccounted for.
Speaking on Saturday when he flagged off medical supplies which were purchased from KEMSA for use at the Wajir County referral Hospital, Governor Abdullahi regretted that when grave issues like theft occur, elders throng at his office in defence of the culprits, curtailing justice's course.
"We don’t want theft of medicines at all; the clan elders better tell individuals involved in these vices to stop because as an administration we are very alert and keen to deal with such characters whom we will hand over to the relevant authorities for action to be taken against them,” he said.
The governor instructed the Health executive Habiba Ali Maalim to undertake an audit of all hospitals to ascertain if all equipment supplied by the county government, the World Bank, Managed Equipment Services (MES), and non-governmental organizations is there and that medical superintendents should account for it.
“I have instructed the Health executive to ensure that the officers entrusted with the medical products and all the properties at our health facilities across our county, protect them against theft and misuse. This includes equipment that we have procured and other donations from well-wishers,” he said.
He added:
“As an administration, we remain on course to reform the health sector and save our people’s lives as their health remains a top priority for us. For us to attain that vision, we must protect all that is meant to treat our people because any theft, destruction or misappropriation is a setback to achieving that goal."
He said the county will soon be receiving the remaining batch for our other 131 health facilities as part of our Sh94 million order for medical products.
He called on all county officials to work full time, saying it’s unfair to earn a salary that they haven’t worked for noting that this was morally wrong.
He said in three weeks’ time his administration will do a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a three-story building that will house a new accident and emergency unit, intensive care unit, high dependency unit, three theatres, and a new ward with 44-bed capacity to offset referrals to Nairobi.
Abdullahi who was joined by Deputy Governor Ahmed Muhumed, County executives and other senior County officials thanked the residents for remaining supportive of his administration which he said has helped the county overcome the worst drought despite the difficult transition and the harsh economic times.
Ahmed maintains that when he came back to the office in his second tenure, Wajir General Hospital didn’t even have drip stands, and the nurses were using windows instead, despite procuring hundreds of them.