After lying idle for nearly four years at a yard in Mombasa, the mobile clinics controversially acquired by the Ministry of Health at a cost of Sh800 million will now be distributed among the counties.
This follows a clean bill of health by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), which investigated the deal by some apparently well-connected suppliers.
Even as doubts linger over the EACC decision, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health says that the medical equipment installed in some of the containers has been vandalised.
An assurance by some senior government officials that the equipment is safe for use, though welcome, calls for further investigation.
After all, the containers have for so long been left out in the open at the National Youth Service yard at Miritini, exposed to the elements.
The controversy on the acquisition of the mobile clinics was fuelled by the Kenya Revenue Authority’s finding then that the 100 units were bought at Sh1.4 million each and sold to the government at Sh10 million a piece in a pretty lucrative deal.
And now, it is going to cost the taxpayer even more as the clinics will have to be refurbished at a cost of hundreds of millions of shillings before they can be put to good use.
If sent to the counties in the suspect state in which they are, the clinics could end up becoming disused and, ultimately, useless.
Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache has told Parliament that the ministry will require a tidy sum of Sh336 million annually to run the clinics.
And more money will be spent on transporting them and providing additional facilities, including amenities such as toilets.
Couldn’t this money have been put to better use by simply expanding the existing hospitals and health centres and recruiting more health workers?
Credit: Source link