Mombasa Governor Abdullswamad Nassir has moved his office to the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital to personally supervise changes aimed at improving services.
In a statement, Nassir said the decision was made so that he could closely monitor and speed up the reforms taking place at the hospital.
“This week, I have moved my office to the Coast General Hospital to personally oversee and accelerate the service reforms we are implementing,” he said.
The governor explained that the reforms include hiring more staff, especially nurses and digitising hospital systems to make work easier and faster.
He also said that the county is increasing training programs for the medical services providers to help build the skills of healthcare workers.
The governor added that he will also strengthen supervision and oversight at the hospital to make sure everything runs well and resources are used properly.
"Oversight will also be tightened to ensure accountability in this vital county institution. Healthcare must work for our people, and we are making sure it does," he added.
There have been several complaints at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital. For example, on April 4, an 81-year-old patient is said to have died after the hospital's oxygen supply was allegedly turned off during maintenance. The matter is now under investigation.
Nassir expressed his sympathy to the families who lost their loved ones in the ward affected by the oxygen issue.
“There was an incident. It is claimed that oxygen was cut off at Coast General Hospital, which may have led to the death of an elderly patient,” the governor said.
Today, Nassir met with the family of the deceased, and they agreed that an autopsy would be done to confirm the cause of death.
The family has hired a private pathologist to carry out the post-mortem. Meanwhile, the hospital and the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) have been asked to prepare and submit full reports.
“Anyone found responsible will face the law. There is no other way about it,” the governor said, while asking the family to be patient as they wait for the results of the investigation.
