The County Assembly Committee on Health Services chaired by Central Gem MCA, Hon. Abigael Awino, yesterday held a consultative meeting with the County Executive Committee Members in charge of Finance and Economic Planning, Governance and Administration, The County Secretary and the Chief Officer for Health Services.
The Committee deliberated on among other matters, the difficulties arising from the implementation of Section 41 (2) of the Siaya County Health Services Act, 2019. The provision which was made in consideration of Section 109 (2) (b) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012, authorizes hospitals to utilize the revenue they collect from services rendered to the public to defray their expenses.
To address the bottlenecks hampering the execution of this law, the County Executive team undertook to develop and submit regulations that will facilitate the implementation of the Act within two weeks. When fully implemented, the Siaya County Health Services Act, 2019 shall enable hospitals meet their immediate financial demands that would otherwise cripple their operations.
Further, they undertook to;
a) Develop a comprehensive report about the status of health care services at Siaya County Referral Hospital, challenges experienced by health care workers and possible measures to curb the shortcomings.
b) Draft and present a County Health Services Bill within one month.
