By Shadrack Nyakoe
The management of Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital has blamed the county government for failing to support the facility which lacks enough equipment, medicine and staff.
The management led by its CEO Emma Mutio in a fact-finding tour to the facility by the County Assembly Health committee that the hospital receives over 2,000 patients in a day while the doctors can only attend to 20 percent of the patient in a day.
“We don’t have an intensive care unit nor equipment but we receive complicated cases which we have to refer to other hospitals. We also lack manpower, this year alone 80 nurses have resigned. We are asking the county government through the health committee to help decongest Mama Lucy Hospital by building another hospital in Matopeni.
Mutio asked for drugs, ambulances and adequate funding as they only depend on NHIF and own source revenue.
This comes after a public outcry regarding the increasing cases of medical negligence in the hospital which led to Senators threatening to close down the hospital.
The chairperson health committee Maurice Ochieng who is also the MCA for Mountain View speaking after the site visit asked the Senate to grant the facility Ksh. 1 billion as the facility serves millions from neighboring counties Machakos and Kiambu as well as Nairobi.
“Closing Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital will not solve the problems of Nairobians but it will create congestion to other hospitals in the City. We have gotten responses from the facility and we will meet the county executive on this matter before we proceed to report writing,” Ochieng said.