Members of the Garissa county assembly Health committee are now calling on the executive to give the Garissa Level 5 Teaching and Referral Hospital financial autonomy.
Led by the committee chairperson Adan Hassan Odowa, they said it is only by giving the facility autonomy that the hospital will be able to perform its duties well without interruptions.
This, the committee members said, will help reduce bureaucracies and enhance transparency and accountability.
They further called on the county treasury to release allocation to the hospital without any further delays.
The committee members were speaking to the press after meeting the Health team and visiting several units within the hospital during a fact-finding mission and support supervision.
Among the areas the team visited were the ICU, theatre, general wards, maternity, radiology department and renal unit.
“Today we have visited the Garissa [Level 5 Teaching and] Referral Hospital on a support supervision mission to try and find out whether services are being delivered to the members of the community and the challenges the hospital might be encountering and how they can be addressed going forward,” Odowa said.
He said that while there was a lot of good things happening at the hospital, there were also grave challenges that need to be addressed.
The committee said the last time the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency provided drugs to the facility was in October last year, noting that they will seek to understand the reasons that might have led to the delay.
“I want to commend the medical team here, consultants, medical officers and nurses for doing a good job as far providing quality services to the people concerned. As a committee - going forward - all we are supposed to do is to support them,”Odowa said.
Bariki MCA Hassan Geley, who is also a member of the committee, said that while there was a lot of improvement in terms of service delivery and financial accountability, the only thing lacking was good management at the administrative level.
He called on the county administration to fast track the purchase of new CT scan, ICU and renal equipment to help the hospital.
Geley said most of the medical equipment have not been serviced by the contractor following the expiry of the lease.
He further called on the department of Health to fast track supply of drugs from Kemsa.
The ward rep said that while there was a lot of water, what was missing were storage tanks as well as plumbing works in the wards areas.
“I am calling on the governor to review the management at the hospital with a view of bringing in new people who will ensure that the facility is run correctly,” he said.
“Overall there is a lot of improvement from what it was one year ago. the collection shows that services are being delivered. An example is the theater that is doing between 15 to 20 surgeries in a single day. That is a positive aspect.”
Last year alone the hospital, through the own-source revenue, collected Sh155.7 million.
During his state of the county address last year, Governor Nathif Jama said his administration has made significant progress in improving health infrastructure across all levels to improve service delivery.
