A recent report by the Machakos County Assembly Health Committee on the status of Machakos Level 5 Hospital unearthed the sad state of the facility.
According to the report tabled at the Assembly last week, the hospital has an acute shortage of staff across all cadres and this has led to poor service delivery. Critical departments like ICU and HDU have had to cut down admissions due to a lack of staff.
The committee further unearthed that the county has no health directorate as per the Health Act 2017 and most directors are in acting capacity.
Further, the health committee found out that the supply of pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceuticals was erratic forcing patients to be asked to get some drugs from outside the hospital. The MCAs expressed concern over the status of the mortuary noting it doesn’t meet the status of funeral homes and that due to the lack of a postmortem kit, post-mortem has to be done in private mortuaries resulting in loss of revenue.
The hospital linen and patients’ gowns were found to be old and torn and the supply of food rations was inconsistent resulting in a likelihood of patients missing meals.
The committee recommended the allocation of funds to start the recruitment of medical personnel and a sufficient budget allocated for pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceutical supplies.
“The county should also set aside funds for the construction of a modern state-of-the-art funeral home with a 100 body capacity well equipped with a post mortem kit and a chapel.” The report read in part.
“Ksh. 30M should be factored in the budget for the FY 2024/2024 for the purchase of hospital linen and gowns for Level 5 and all Level 4 hospitals in the county. Accrued debts of food rations suppliers should be paid within the next 30 days… At least 27 million should be allocated per quarter on perishables, dry food stuff, and cooking gas for Machakos Level 5 Hospital.” The committee further recommended.
The full report is available on the Machakos County Assembly Website.
