The Government, through the Ministry of Health, has made major reshuffles to its senior staff barely three weeks to the election.
In the changes made by Health Principal Secretary Julius Korir, twenty-four officers have been affected. Some of those reshuffled include; heads of departments, divisions, and hospitals.
Dr Martin Sirengo, who headed the National Aids and STIs Control Programme (NASCOP) is one of the biggest victims having been moved from NASCOP to Mbagathi Hospital as a technical support officer, with Dr Kigen Barmasai who headed the technical support office at the hospital moving to NASCOP as the new head.
[caption caption="Outgoing NASCOP boss Dr Martin Sirengo"]
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The former head of policy and planning Peter Kimuu was moved to the Kenya Medical Training College and replaced by David Gicheru.
Dr Pacifica Onyancha, who headed the department of quality assurance and standards, and led the Ministry to become the first in Africa to gain the ISO 9001:2008 certification in July 2016, has been transferred to Mathari Mental Hospital as a consultant and will be replaced by Ms Ann Wamai.
On the other hand, Julius Ogato, who was in charge of Mathari Hospital, will now coordinate radiotherapy at the National Cancer Control Programme with Mr Joseph Egala taking over as the new hospital's boss.
HIV researcher, Peter Cherutich, will be in charge of the department of preventive and promotive health with former head David Ooko Soti moving to the director of medical services office.
The Department of Mental Health will also have a new boss after Catherine Syengo was moved to be a consultant at Mathari Hospital.
The Health PS stated that the latest changes are expected to take effect immediately adding that the reshuffles were made after consultations with top Ministry officials.
"It has been decided that the following changes be made to enhance the effectiveness of execution of programmes and service delivery," Korir stated.
[caption caption="Health PS Julius Korir"]
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