Counties Repaid Sh38Bn To Ghost Medical Equipment Suppliers

Auditor General report has revealed that Counties have been repaying ghost suppliers of the Health ministry’s leased Sh38 billion medical equipment four years.

Counties are caughing out billions of shillings repaying not only ghost suppliers but also crippling county taxpayers by forcefully buying equipments without any recorded evidence of their benefits.

County Health facilities are more sick than the real patients they have to cure and some of the expensive machines that counties are repaying are gathering dust in most of the hospitals.

Auditor-General’s report indicate that the suppliers of the MES the Ministry of Health leased to counties have never been paid yet the records from the counties indicate that the money had been deducted from County Allocations.

Each county pays sh200 million each year, initially the counties were paying Sh95 million.

So for 47 counties, tax payers fork out Sh9.4 billion each year, up from the initial Sh4.5 billion since 2015, when the programme was started. Who exactly is eating these funds? Why is embattled MoH mute and playing numb as yhwy always do?

According to the government, the modern equipment were meant to bring specialised treatment of cancer, diabetes and other serious illnesses closer to the people. The joke remains on people as, take for instance, cancer patients are all referred to KNH where a good number die while waiting on the long list that need to get the drugs and undergo chemo.

Kidney dialysis machines, X-ray and theatre equipment, and intensive care units were also included in the Managed Equipment Scheme (MES) package.

County Governments through the Council of  Governors have been complaining that the MoH never involved them in this expensive stagnant project. Since Health is a devolved function Counties are left caughing out funds to keep such half-guessed projects crawling.

This report in a serious country can land couple of cartels behind bars, unfortunately, we are in a country where corruption is celebrated with baloons, fireworks, ceremonial positions, development only recorded on blueprints, national prayers that look more like a face-picture of National preyers… People who are supposed to keep wananchi Healthy are the very same cartels that directly looting and making them more sick in pockets.