CS Sicily Kariuki orders fresh inspection of all hospitals says those with poor services will be de-registered

Why hospitals might be de-registered soon

Mumbi Mutuko

May 7, 2019 4:10 PM

Crackdown on hospitals

Health CS Sicily Kariuki

Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki has ordered for fresh inspection of all hospitals nationwide.

The Health CS warned that facilities found offering poor services will be de-registered.

This comes in the wake of allegations of medical negligence and the closure of Shalom Community hospital.

Machakos county government and Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board revoked the hospital’s business permit and operational license until further notice.

Shalom Community Hospital in Machakos County Pulse Live Kenya

Investigations undertaken by the Ministry of Health officials together with officers of the Kenya Medical Board, Nursing Council of Kenya, Clinical Officers Council, Pharmacy Board found the hospital was not fit to operate.

Death of newborn babies

Meanwhile, an audit report published in the International Journal of Paediatrics revealed that approximately 80 babies die every week at the New Born Unit (NBU) of Kenyatta National Hospital.

A nurse in charge of the newborn unit at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi Pulse Live Kenya

According to the audit report, most of the deaths occurred within 48 hours of admission to the NBU.

The report investigated the use of antibiotics in 320 newborns admitted at the unit over a two-month period and showed that eighty newborns died within seven days of admission.

Doctors who carried out the audit blamed failure by health workers to follow the national treatment guidelines for newborns and lack of facilities.

Mumbi Mutuko