A Senate Health Committee has urged the Kiambu County Government to urgently streamline operations at the Kiambu Level 5 Hospital following a fact-finding mission that exposed major shortcomings in service delivery. The senators, led by Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago, raised alarm over delays in patient registration, a shortage of medical staff, and the increasing number of teenage mothers stranded in the facility due to unpaid bills. They emphasized that a breakdown in the patient documentation system had created unnecessary bottlenecks, preventing timely access to medical care.
During the oversight visit to both Kiambu Level 5 and Karuri Level 4 hospitals, the legislators uncovered distressing cases of underage mothers being detained for months after childbirth for failing to settle their bills. Many of the girls lacked national identification documents, making it difficult to register for the Social Health Authority (SHA) insurance program. Mandago urged the county to step in by enrolling the vulnerable mothers under the Wamatangi Care scheme — a county-funded insurance initiative launched in 2022 that covers inpatient, outpatient, and maternity services, as well as chronic illnesses. The senator also appealed to young mothers to register under SHA to ensure continued access to healthcare.
The senators also raised serious concerns over the facility’s non-functional medical waste incinerator, warning that the current disposal practices were endangering nearby residents. Bungoma Senator Wafula Wakoli described the dumping of untreated medical waste near homes as a public health disaster in waiting. The committee further noted that the hospital’s mortuary lacked essential equipment and that funds collected for hospital operations were sometimes diverted to other county departments, straining service delivery.
In response, Kiambu MCA Joseph Muhinja assured the team that the county would allocate resources for a new incinerator in the supplementary budget and address the human resource shortage that has left the county with a deficit of 6,000 nurses. He added that Sh120 million had already been set aside for the Wamatangi Care program to support vulnerable families, and a unique identification system would soon be introduced to help register young mothers without national IDs. The Senate Committee is expected to follow up on the county’s progress in implementing the recommended reforms to ensure residents receive dignified and efficient healthcare.