HOUSE COMMITTEE BEGINS SCRUTINY OF LEVEL FOUR HEALTH FACILITY AUDIT REPORTS
———————————————
Tuesday, 5th November, 2024
———————————————
In line with the provisions of Article 229 (8) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, the House Committee on Public Accounts and Investments has commenced scrutinizing the audit reports of all the Level 4 Health facilities in Siaya County.
The interrogation sessions will address reports on the hospitals financial statements for the fiscal years ending 30th June 2022 and 30th June 2023.
First to appear before the Hon. William Kinyanyi led committee was Uyawi Sub-County Level 4 Hospital.
The facility is situated in Bondo Sub-County and has a bed capacity of 17 instead of the required capacity of 150 as per the health policy guidelines.
During the interrogation, it came out that a review of the hospital’s records and interviews on verification of services offered, equipment used, and medical specialists in the hospital at the time of audit revealed that the hospital did not meet the requirements of Kenya Quality Model for Health Policy Guidelines due to staff deficits by 89% of the authorized establishment.
Notably, the hospital has no medical officers, anesthesiologists, general surgeons, gynecologists, pediatricians, and radiologists. In addition, the facility lacks necessary equipment and machines like newborn incubators, cots, a resuscitative in-theatre, functional ICU beds, and a renal unit with dialysis.
In his response, the Hospital’s Medical Superintendent, Jack Ochieng’, acknowledged the deficiencies noting that they have affected the full implementation and realization of universal health coverage.
“We are closely working with the Department of Health Services to bridge the gap on staffing and equipment shortages. The hospital has further reached out to development partners and NGOs to assist with the procurement of critical medical equipment. In the meantime, we have strengthened our referral systems to ensure that patients requiring specialized care are referred to better-equipped facilities promptly,” stated the Medical Superintendent.
The Committee was further alarmed by the hospital’s internal controls noting that a review of the facility’s store records on pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceuticals revealed that 574 units of essential drugs and anti-retro viral drugs had expired. Additionally, the stock cards used to issue drugs to various departments in the hospital did not indicate the batch number and the expiry dates of the drugs
The exercise continues tomorrow where the management of Rwambwa Sub-County Level 4 Hospital will appear before the Committee.
