Health CS Susan Wafula has directed the Kenya Health Professional Oversight Authority to include all unregulated cadres under its umbrella.
This comes after the Association of Medical Engineers of Kenya called on the ministry to fast track the regulation of biomedical engineers, to bring sanity to the profession.
This is after it emerged that there are a lot of quacks who have populated the profession who are taking advantage of lack of regulation to practice.
The first attempt to regulate the profession flopped after a bill introduced into parliament failed to see the light of day.
In the directive, Wafula acknowledged that availability of efficient biomedical equipment remains key in the realisation of the universal healthcare agenda.
She pledged to strengthen regulation of medical equipment in the country.
The CS spoke on Wednesday during the 13th Association of Medical Engineering of Kenya Scientific Conference and Exhibition.
“I have directed KHPOA to include all unregulated cadres under its umbrella and work with them to ensure their regulatory needs are catered for,” Wafula said.
“I urge the association to work with KHPOA on matters regarding regulation.”
This comes in the wake of the government having invested a lot of funding in acquiring expensive medical equipment, including the Managed Equipment Service.
The fear is that some unqualified personnel find their way into hospitals to run or manage the equipment, which might end up as a health hazard.
“When you lack a regulatory body anybody can come in and practice whatever it is that they don’t know,” AMEK secretary general Millicent Aloo said.
"Right now the government has invested heavily in MES project and many sophisticated equipment are in the different hospitals."
