The Senate has started a probe on the status of health facilities put up in Nairobi’s informal settlements in the last two years.
The Standing Committee on Health will further be seeking to establish the number of health facilities constructed or rehabilitated in the slums.
Majority Whip Boni Khalwale, who sought a statement from the committee, wants the probe to also look into the completion and operationalisation status of each of the health facilities.
The Kakamega senator further wants the committee to establish the cost of construction or rehabilitation of the health facilities.
The government has been putting up health facilities in informal settlements to make medical services more accessible to slum dwellers as it rolls out the Universal Health Care programme.
In August 2020, the national government embarked on a mission to put up 24 health facilities in the informal settlements within Nairobi metropolitan area.
The project is envisaged to bring primary health care closer to citizens and relieve pressure off three major hospitals which handle bulk cases from Nairobi and adjoining satellite towns.
Around 10 million Kenyans lived in slums based on the 2019 population census, with the capital holding the largest share of slum dwellers standing at some 1.5 million people.
