Hospital’s private ward closed

BY STEVE MKAWALE and KARANJA NJOROGE

The private wing of the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital (Annex) in Nakuru town has been closed.

The Ministry of Health reverted the Annex to a general ward after stopping payment of professional fees to doctors with patients admitted there. The hospital’s Medical Superintendent George Mugenya confirmed the decision to revert the amenity wing to a general ward.

"That was the decision by the ministry and was taken to harmonise running of amenity wards," he said when contacted.

The move has caused disquiet among doctors with some opting to transfer their patients to private health facilities in the town.

Although the facility belongs to the State, patients admitted at the Annex normally pay more than those in general wards.

The extra charges were paid out to medics as professional fees, something the ministry was never comfortable with, according to doctors who spoke to The Standard on condition of anonymity.

When we visited the Annex yesterday, there were only six patients in the 50-bed facility that sometimes generates more than a Sh1 million on a daily basis.

A nurse at the hospital said patients were now shunning the hospital due to lack of consultants who, they say, charged subsidised fees for their services.

According to sources, the ministry was not happy with the money collected on behalf of doctors as professional fees. Trouble started last month when robbers made away with more than Sh1.8 million collected at the facility.

"The ministry questioned where the money came from and when it was explained that the money was professional fees for doctors, it immediately ordered that the facility be reverted to a general ward," said a doctor.

Unlike other patients in the general wards, those at Annex enjoyed consultancy services from individual doctors who pursued their cases until they were fully recovered and discharged.

Civil servants and middle class income earners preferred seeking treatment at the Annex than either the provincial hospital or private health facilities in the town.

The hospital, built during the First World War, has been offering quality services to residents who could not afford the exorbitant fees charged in other private facilities.

During the colonial period, it offered services to members of the white community in Nakuru and the surrounding areas.

After independence the hospital opened its doors to Africans, but charged an extra fee.

A senior administrator at the hospital said following the Government’s move, the institution was having problems meeting its financial obligations.

"Since the directive was made two weeks ago we have been having problems paying casual workers and buying food for the patients," he said.

A patient at the hospital, Bernard Rukwaro, accused the ministry of playing into the hands of private hospitals in the town.

|   |    |    Comments (0) |   Add Comment