Police in Kisii have arrested seven suspects in connection with the attack and assault on medical staff at Nduru Level 4 Hospital about a month and a half ago.
Confirming the arrests, Kisii County Police Commander Charles Kases said the suspects will appear in court on Monday to face charges of robbery with violence, assault and malicious damage to property.
Mr Kases said the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) Kisii County had ordered the arrest and prosecution of the suspects.
"Following our investigations and recommendations by the ODPP, we have arrested the seven suspects," Mr Kases said, adding that the suspects were being held at Nyamarambe Police Station awaiting arraignment in court.
The arrests come after doctors and nurses who had shut down the hospital and stayed away from their duties resumed work earlier this week.
The resumption of duties followed negotiations between the Kisii County government leadership, national government administrators and medical staff unions and the police, with assurances of stern action against the perpetrators.
The police have come under intense pressure from Kisii Governor Simba Arati and the health workers' unions, who have called for the summoning of the political leaders who sponsored the attack. There have also been calls for the arrest and prosecution of the assailants used by the said politician to carry out the attack.
The governor and national government officials have accused unnamed politicians of stirring up animosity against the medical officers, allegedly to advance a political agenda.
Speaking in Kisii town on Monday, senior security officials led by county commissioner Tom Anjere vowed to deal ruthlessly with anyone found to be responsible for hooliganism at the hospital.
Mr Anjere warned the unnamed politicians behind the attack that they were being watched and that appropriate action would be taken at the appropriate time.
"In terms of security, because this is the area where the medics have expressed a lot of concern, we have assured them that we have made adequate arrangements to provide them with 24-hour security. In areas where they feel there is a need for additional security, we will provide it to ensure that they are able to practice their profession without interruption," said the Kisii County Commissioner.
On Wednesday, 12 April 2023, a gang of hoodlums armed with crude weapons stormed Nduru Hospital, assaulting medical staff and vandalising medical equipment and government vehicles at the health facility.
Medics at the facility later downed their tools, leading to the closure of the hospital for more than a month.
Union officials from the medical fraternity said the health facility would not be opened until the safety of staff was guaranteed.
During the attack, the perpetrators said they opposed the relocation of medical equipment by some senior medical staff in the Kisii County government.
They also destroyed the vehicle that was to be used to transport the anaesthesia machine to Keumbu Sub-County Referral Hospital.
In one of his many addresses on the issue, Mr Arati claimed that the thugs who attacked and injured medical staff at the health facility came from the offices of the South Mugirango Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
The governor, who gave chilling details of the attack in which three doctors, a nurse and a driver were assaulted, blamed South Mugirango MP Silvanus Osoro for allegedly being responsible for the attack.
The district chief gave a detailed account of the attack, claiming that the assailants wanted to kill the medical officers for political reasons and that the leaders responsible had prior knowledge of the plan to lynch the doctors and nurses because they opposed the transfer of an anaesthetic machine to another deserving hospital.
But Mr Osoro denied the allegations, accusing Mr Arati of fighting with his own shadow and that he (Arati) was looking for people to blame.
Two weeks ago, Mr Osoro led demonstrations in Nyamarambe demanding that the hospital be reopened.
The MP, who is also the Majority Whip in the National Assembly, said he had converted the constituency's National Constituency Development Fund office into a makeshift hospital and claimed to have engaged several doctors, clinicians and nurses to start treating patients.
According to the 2010 Constitution, health is a devolved function and it is not clear how the MP is supposed to run a public hospital, pay staff, buy drugs and equipment as this is purely a matter for county governments.
The MP also said that Kisii County officials would not be allowed to collect revenue in the area until the closed hospital was reopened.
County revenue collectors were also ordered not to set foot in South Mugirango to collect money on behalf of the devolved unit.
During the demonstrations, Mr Osoro said: 'We want to employ doctors and nurses from this area. For example, we now have eight nurses, five clinical officers and four doctors, headed by one of us.
He added: "We have also recruited other medical staff headed by our own son, Dr Kepha Ombacho. The whole new team is led by very experienced people and they will be occupying the entire constituency office to commence medical services".
