THE governors yesterday insisted that they would not be party to the Sh38 billion healthcare plan launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta last week.
Governors are in charge of the devolved units and their refusal to support the Managed Equipment Service (MES) Programme by the national government could jeopardise its roll-out.
Hospitals and medical staff are under management of county governments since heath is a devolved function.
Addressing the press after a Council of Governors’ meeting in Nairobi, the county chiefs said they prefer the equipment be bought, not leased, because that would cut costs by a quarter.
"The cost of leasing the equipment for 10 years is enough to buy our own equipment over a period of three years. Spending Sh38 billion to lease equipment is a colossal amount," the governors said in a statesmen read by Meru Governor Peter Munya.
Some 40 governors attended the meeting.
"We thought the government was to utilise its share of allocation for the equipment. It is a shock that they want to eat into our small allocation with the lease."
They expressed concern on the 'rush' by the national government to launch the lease deal without consulting them, saying an agreement between the ministry of Health and the counties was necessary first.
"There has been no agreement with the ministry of Health on how the equipment will be managed at the county level. The only thing we saw was the signing without our involvement," said CoG chairman and Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto.
He said governors did not snub last Friday's signing of the health equipment agreement, adding, "There had been no consultation and establishment on the personnel requirements for the machines to functionally operate and serve Kenyans".
Under the programme the government plans to have at least two hospitals in each of the 47 counties furnished with intensive care units, cancer diagnosis equipment and treatment, dialysis machines and other equipment by the end of May.
This means the supplier installs, operates, maintains and replaces the machine if necessary. The companies would also pay the operators.
The government has already signed contracts with five multinational companies for the supply, installation, operation and maintenance of the equipment.
Mindray Biomedical of China will supply the theatre equipment; Esteem of India the devices, equipment and consumables for theatres; Belico SRL of Italy the dialysis machines; Philips of The Netherlands the Intensive Care Units; and General Electric of the US the radiology machines.
The cancer treatment equipment will cost Sh21.8 billion, the renal devices Sh2.2 billion, the ICU equipment Sh3.3 billion, the theatres Sh12 billion and the laboratory equipment — which will be tendered for later — Sh2.7 billion.
The Treasury has allocated Sh3 billion in the current financial year.
The Governors also rubbished a World Bank report that disclosed the majority of the counties are burning billions on salaries, administration costs and trips, instead of development projects.
They slammed the timing of the report when the formula for the allocation of resources is being reviewed.
“This is meant to paint us as non-performers and therefore deny us more allocation. The bank balances have already been committed and no money has been lost," said Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero.