Police in Uasin Gishu county have made a breakthrough in the fight against rampant cases of theft of medical equipment worth millions of shillings in the public health facilities.
This followed the arrest of three nurses by police officers in connection with theft of a Sh1.3 million ultrasound machine from Kapteldon sub-county hospital in Kapseret constituency.
The stolen imaging machine uses sound waves to make pictures of organs, tissues and other structures inside the human body, allowing health care providers to see into the body of a patient without surgery.
There was drama as the nurses were hauled from their hide-outs by the sleuths and driven to Langas police station where they were locked in the cell after being linked to the theft of the machine by the management of the hospital.
According to Peter Kimulwo, the County Director of Criminal Investigations, the facility was not broken into nor was there any sign of forced entry into the room where the machine is stored, thus raising suspicion the theft could have been an inside job.
Kimulwo said his officers swung into action and arrested the health care workers stationed at the facility following a tip off from hospital management.
He said the three nurses were later released on a Sh 10,000 cash bail each after recording their statements with criminal investigation officers at the station.
They spent more than four hours at the station as they were being grilled by the detectives over the theft of the hospital machine.
“We will produce them in court on theft of the hospital machine charge after our investigations into the matter are complete,” Kimulwo said.
A highly placed source at the county’s health department said rising theft of hospital machines and drugs was threatening to cripple service delivery.
The source, who sought anonymity, said that those behind the syndicate and working with some disgruntled hospital staff were taking advantage of the lack of a proper accounting system in the health department.
“There is an urgent need to embrace technology if we expect to fight the menace that is threatening to cripple service delivery in our public hospitals across the county,” he said.