KNH Officials Appear Before Committee To Respond To Audit Queries
By Our Correspondent
Officials from the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) led by CEO Dr. Evanson N Kamuri were yesterday tasked to respond to tough questions raised by Members of the Public Investment Committee on Social Services, Administration and Agriculture (PIC-SSAA) concerning the audit queries in the Auditor General’s report before the committee.
Among the key concerns were issues regarding high number of unsettled debts owed by patients, unutilized leave for staff, among others.
The Emanuel Wangwe led committee sought to understand why staff were not utilizing their constitutionally entitled leave days as it gives them room to refresh their minds out of their busy schedules thus enhancing effective productivity.
“Leave days are entitled to every employee under the Constitution. Explain to this committee why KNH has failed to grant leave to some of its employees and cite which law gives employers powers to choose whether to grant leave or not,” directed Wangwe.
In their response, the KNH Management defended their move citing under- staffing in some of the critical departments within the hospital. According to the CEO, releasing some of the employees serving in critical areas to proceed on leave would leave a vacuum and compromise delivery of service thus forcing the employees to carry forward their leave days.
Dr. Kamuri pleaded with the committee to consider allocating more funds to the facility to enable them recruit more staff and sort the current challenge of under staffing. This, he noted, would ensure services are not interrupted when some employees proceed on leave.
The legislators also sought to understand from the officials why the facility has a lot of unsettled debts owed by patients over the years.
Members were also concerned on why the facility has been unable to follow up on the patients after they are discharged to ensure defaulters settle their bills.
“The debt relates to patients who absconded from hospital before paying bills or entering into a formal credit arrangement with the facility,” explained Dr. Kamuri.
The CEO further explained that efforts have been made to follow up the debts through demand letters and short messages (SMS) using last known addresses for the patients. He added that the recovery of these debts has not been successful due to several factors among them, change of address by patients.
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