Sh247m emergency funds spent on idle medical kits
Then-Deputy President William Ruto (second left) and his boss Uhuru Kenyatta (second right) during the signing of the MES contracts at State House on February 6, 2015.
The government, in the last financial year, paid Sh247 million for medical equipment supplied to hospitals in a contract with France, even as equipment valued at Sh900 million lay idle in hospitals.
The payment was about a Sh3.9 billion loan signed between the Health ministry and FSE Sarl, France (the project contractor) in December 2020 for supplying medical equipment and associated services to Kenyan public health institutions.
The funding was to cater to emergency response to fight Covid-19 (Sh1,923,301,132) and to prevent maternal and infant mortality (Sh2,065,504,456).
But the Auditor-General, in a special report on the government’s use of funds under Article 223 of the Constitution, has revealed the kits valued at about Sh900 million were either idle, faulty or had not been installed by September, even as the State struggled to pay for them.
“The Ministry of Health requested an amount of Sh900 million under Article 223 of the Constitution in the financial year 2022/2023, to make an advance payment under the contract.
“However, the National Treasury approved Sh247,082,750,” said Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu.
The audit, conducted in 17 health facilities across 11 counties in September, found that of the equipment delivered to hospitals, equipment valued at Sh555,230,382 was not in use due to various reasons such as hospitals lacking buildings and the required infrastructure to install the equipment while some of the equipment had broken down.
Among hospitals where equipment was not in use despite being delivered included Cherangany Level Four Hospital (Sh29.3 million), Gatundu South Level Four Hospital (Sh72.9 million), Murang’a Level Five Hospital (Sh103.6 million) and West Hospital (Sh155.5 million).
Eight other hospitals also had equipment valued at millions of shillings lying idle. “This indicates that the project had implementation challenges and was not fully enhancing service delivery to citizens,” noted the audit.
The report by Ms Gathungu also observed that in eight out of the 17 sampled hospitals, medical equipment valued at Sh185.5 million was faulty and had broken down shortly after installation.
“For instance, the incinerator supplied to the Kericho County Referral Hospital on November 19, 2021, worked for only six months and broke down.
“The hospital had reverted to using an old incinerator supplied in 2012.
“Further, the incinerator has never been serviced since installation. As a result, the objective of the equipment was not achieved,” she said.
