Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

top

Kenya

Pumwani Maternity is still in business

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 1 – Pumwani Maternity hospital is still operational, contrary to fears that it was ordered to shut down.

A spot check by Capital News revealed normal operations at the largest maternity hospital in the country.

The Deputy Medical Officer of Health at the hospital Dr Omondi Kumba only said he found a notice of closure for their laboratory hang on the notice board without his authorisation.

“They (Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologist Board) did not even see me and I am the boss of the hospital. What they are saying is that the person they found working there (lab) is not registered, but it is not true,” Dr Kumba asserted.

He argued that the employee who was also the head of the laboratory had worked at the hospital for over 10 years and was duly registered and qualified.

“They also found some reagents in the laboratory which have expired but they did not find us using them. If a reagent expires in the laboratory, we keep it there and then there is a government procedure of destroying that sometimes takes long,” he said in defence.

The unsigned notice by the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologist Board (KMLTTB) had ordered immediate closure of the hospital’s medical laboratory due to non-compliance.

“Maybe it is a political agenda,” Dr Kumba said as he dismissed the notice adding that the KMLTTB had a court order barring it from conducting any activities.

According to the public notice, the closure was to safeguard public health because the facility had persisted with “chronic non-compliance with established safe practices resulting in serious and immediate risk to the health and/or safety of workers and patients.”

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

It stated that any person who violated the order could be tried before a Court of law and fined no more than Sh1 million or imprisoned for five years or both.

About The Author

Comments
Advertisement

More on Capital News