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{
    "id": 784561,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/784561/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 90,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) S.W. Chege",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 884,
        "legal_name": "Sabina Wanjiru Chege",
        "slug": "sabina-wanjiru-chege"
    },
    "content": "night, there was a new case about a woman who gave birth through an operation. Her intestines are torn and she is still held up in the hospital. When the husband went to get her, he was told to wait, because if he takes his patient, he is on his own. Nobody will take care of the patient. When we were writing this Committee Report on Monday, it is sad to note that the same patients who underwent the surgery mix-up kept on calling some Committee Members saying that they were told to go back on 19th March. They had already been discharged but, when they went to the hospital, they were mistreated. They were told doctors were on strike and when they presented their NHIF cards which were processed, they were told they were not working. Some of these patients had come from Nyeri and had no place to stay because it was late in the evening. Because of the way those patients have been treated, as a Committee, we highly recommend that KNH and the CS should take responsibility and make sure that those patients are well taken care of. We also thought from the physical appearance of those patients that even a second opinion was required. Those people need to be investigated further because, as a Committee, we were at pain to be told that one patient was supposed to go to the theatre, but there was confusion and the following day out of physical examination, he was told he is okay and that he can be given medicine and he no longer needed to go to the theatre. It was also a bit confusing. It is also good for this House to know that 75 per cent of the doctors who are working in Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) are registrars. Just to make it simple, registrars are students. I personally asked them whether they are supposed to work by themselves or they are supposed to be supervised. The answer was: “Sometimes, once you work a little bit, your supervisor can allow you to continue the operations unless you encounter a problem. Then you can consult your supervisor.” I think this is risky. We would like the shortage of staff at KNH to be looked into. I want to take this House to the exact shortage we have of staff members at KNH. I will be going straight to the recommendations of the Committee because it is actually a sad affair. I am trying to look at where the numbers exactly are, so that I am straight and people will not say that you acted out of hearsay. I will get exactly to where that is. Let me just go to the Committee’s recommendations. In the recognition of the Board’s failure to carry out its functions in the national interest, the appointing authority, in accordance with Section 7 (3) of the State Corporations Act Cap. 446, we ask that a new board be constituted with immediate effect. I also want to tell this House that when we summoned this Board to come about this very serious surgery mix-up, only three board members turned up, out of 10. When we asked the Board Chair where the rest were, he told us his Board members are very busy people and that is why they had not appeared before the Committee. We sent them back and asked them to get the busy people to come and meet with the Committee. We hope that the new Board is not going to be busy for KNH. When it comes in, it is going to appraise the top level management with a view to placing the right personnel with the right qualifications in those positions. Hon. Speaker, allow me to go a little bit and say that KNH has had several chief executive officers (CEOs). Allow me to speak about one CEO. This CEO was Dr. Richard Lesiyampe, who brought transformational leadership style when he was the CEO at KNH. Mr. Richard Lesiyampe was the first CEO who was not from the health background to hold the mantle of the facility. But in his first days in the office, he dealt with pockets of resistance from people who are not ready for his transformational leadership. However, at the end of the day, he reached out to everybody. He did not ignore anyone. When we interacted with the staff of KNH, there is a big gap between the management and the people who are doing the core business – treating the patients. Those people are neglected and we wish and hope that the new board will have time and bring the transformation and the right leadership at KNH. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}