Police are investigating eight people following the theft of HIV kits worth Sh5 million from Murang'a County Referral Hospital.
The suspects have recorded statements at Murang'a police station amid investigations by the DCI.
DCIO Japheth Maingi said they will be arraigned once investigations are completed.
The suspects include two students of Kenya Medical Training Institute who had been interning at the hospital, two casual workers and four staff members.
Chief health officer James Gitau said Murang'a discovered that the kits were missing after Kirinyaga county requested some due a delay in delivery.
Gitau reported that only one carton was found in the store and that there were no documents to explain where the rest were.
He expressed fear that the theft could be the doing of a cartel that was previously blamed for massive loss of drugs at the hospital, a case that saw patients buy them from private pharmacies.
Gitau said the medics receive allowances from private pharmacies for referring patients to their facilities.
The cartel, he said, also frustrated plans by the county to offer free medication to patients suffering
chronic illnesses.
"They would send people to get pricey drugs from pharmacies for free and sell the drugs to private pharmacies or at their private clinics," he said.
Seriously ill patients were therefore asked to get their medicines directly from the hospital.
A month ago, a clinical officer was interdicted after he confessed to deliberately prescribing asthma drugs to a patient who had a nose infection and referring him to a pharmacy.
Gitau then issued a memo to all medics instructing them to ensure they indicate their full names on the prescriptions of patients referred to private pharmacies.
This followed complaints by patients who said they were being asked to buy drugs that the hospital provided from private facilities.
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