Sh4 Million Hospital Machine Disappears

A Sh4 million anaesthesia machine was stolen from the maternity theatre ward at the Chuka Level Five Hospital in Tharaka-Nithi County.

The hospital's medical superintendent Elijah Kameti stated that they realized the machine was missing from the hospital's newly constructed maternity wards on Thursday morning.

Speaking to the nation, Kameti said that it was suspected that the machine was stolen by hospital staff or by an outsider who had the assistance of a hospital employee and was taken out through the mortuary gate.

County Health Chief Officer Walter Mugambi said the police were investigating the incident and that the workers who were on duty on Wednesday night had recorded statements.

“All the mortuary attendants, biomedical service workers, watchmen and everyone who was on duty that night has recorded a statement with police,” Mugambi said.

Tharaka-Nithi Governor Samuel Ragwa on Sunday called for a quick probe and termed the theft as a sabotage of his efforts to improve the health sector in the county.

“How comes this machine was stolen just a day after it was installed in the newly constructed maternity theatre and other equipment are intact?” The governor wondered.

In a separate incident a week ago, a Sh47 million CT scan machine was vandalized by unknown people at the Meru Referral and Teaching Hospital.

Meru County Governor Peter Munya pointed an accusing finger at his political detractors saying that there were political operatives who were using staffers to sabotage service delivery at the hospital.

Read also: County's Sh47 Million Scan Machine Vandalized

 

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