Ten shillings – that's how much outpatients and visitors at Baringo County Referral Hospital are asked to pay to use a public latrine.
Woe unto you if you have diarrhoea and no loose change, or no money at all.
A social media user by the name Aldungan Bore has called out the decision, saying it was rushed, without wide consultation.
But the hospital administrator has defended it, saying it will create jobs and other hospitals are doing it anyway.
“Yes, it is true, we sat down as hospital management and decided to charge Sh10 per person,” Michael Rotich said on Wednesday.
“Why should people be talking so much about it here in Baringo, yet other prominent hospitals all over Kenya are already doing it?”
The small two-room pit latrine is located inside the hospital's compound in Kabarnet, a few steps from the main gate.
Bore said the hospital administrator cannot just wake up, paint a public toilet, provide tissue paper, employ a cleaner/cashier who decides who to charge or who not to charge, determine the amount to charge and pocket the money.
“It must also have been subjected to public participation and the county assembly should have approved it,” he posted.
Rotich dismissed the social media post, saying the money collected goes towards rehabilitating and maintaining the facility.
He said the money is spent on toilet paper and paying a cleaner.
“In fact, people should understand our hospital staff and admitted patients are not the ones using the facility, but outsiders,” Rotich said.
He said most users are taxi and boda boda operators who ferry patients to the hospital. “Otherwise, we have our sufficient toilets inside the wards and administration blocks,” Rotich said.
The administrator said they took the step after realising the facility was being misused, with some people using stones as toilet papers.
He said others threw in bottles, used sanitary pads and diapers, clogging the facility.
“Besides, at least the whole idea has created an employment opportunity for someone who was once languishing in joblessness,” Rotich said.
He denied claims that residents who don't have money are turned away.
The elderly and people with disability are exempted, Rotich said.
But Bore said the decision should have been guided by the Public Finance Management Act, 2012, and its subsidiary regulations.
“Baringo cannot be managed like a village kiosk or shop. We are dealing with a dangerous animal in our county referral hospital. Let's kill it in the 2022 vote before it lays eggs,” he posted.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya
