Economy

MPs demand KNH board be replaced over surgery mishap

bor

Kenyatta National Hospital board chairman Mark Bor (left) and acting CEO Thomas Mutie when they appeared before the National Assembly#s Committee on Health. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The National Assembly’s Health committee wants the board of the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) replaced following a brain surgery mix-up at the facility.

In a report detailing its findings on the treatment mishap of two patients with head injuries, the committee recommended the establishment of a new board that will be appraising top level management on the right personnel.

The report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday points out the board’s failure in carrying out its functions for the sake of national interest.

“In recognition of the Board’s failure to carry out its functions in the national interest, the appointing authority…constitutes a new Board,”  read the report.

“The new board appraises the top level management with a view to placing the right personnel with the right qualifications in these positions.”

The committee chaired by Murag’a woman representative Sabina Chege has also recommended that medical regulatory bodies to take punitive action against health personnel involved in the brain surgery mix-up.

It wants the Nursing Council of Kenya and the Clinical Officers Council of Kenya to immediately review the conduct and practice of nurses involved in the case.

The report comes hot on the heels of nurses who had termed as skewed a report by the Kenya Medical and Practitioners and Dentists Board’s that blamed nurses for the surgery mix-up.

A week ago, a committee constituted by the KMPD Board absolved two doctors from wrongdoing in the KNK surgery mix-up.

In its interaction with KNH staff, the board, top level management and the cabinet secretary for Health, the Health Committee established that there were problems in almost every aspect of the facility.