NAIROBI, Kenya, May 19 — The Council of Governors (CoG) on Friday warned of a looming crisis saying operations in 121 county-run health facilities may soon come to a standstill due to inadequate maintenance and servicing of equipment.
CoG Chairperson Ann Waiguru called upon the Ministry of Health to address this critical issue by either extending the Managed Equipment Service (MES) contracts or finding an alternative solution.
“We urgently appeal to the Ministry of Health to extend the service contracts or seek alternative measures to tackle this significant problem in primary healthcare delivery, the engagement of Community Health Promoters (CHPs), the attempted establishment of Primary Care Networks (PCNs), and the creation of institutions,” stated Waiguru.
The governors expressed concerns about an alleged plot orchestrated by the Ministry of Health to obstruct the implementation of devolved health services.
“The Ministry of Health is intentionally taking steps to undermine the health function, thereby jeopardizing the progress achieved since 2013,” Waiguru claimed.
Additionally, governors claim that all engagements and agreements between the Ministry of Health and the Council of Governors have been disregarded.
“We perceive a lack of goodwill from the Ministry of Health in this matter. Consequently, the interference alleged has had severe repercussions on the execution of the devolved health function in several areas,” Waiguru added.
At the same time, the county heads have accused the national treasury of frustrating devolved units by deliberately failing to release funds to the regions, thereby crippling service delivery and implementation of key projects.
Governors had on Thursday threatened to shut down operations in counties should the national government fail to release Sh94 million meant for the devolved units.
Counties are demanding Sh94.4 billion in delayed disbursements for the months of March to May.
Allocations to the counties that are still pending include Sh29.7 billion for March, Sh33.3 billion for April and Sh31.4 billion for May 2023.
