Kenyatta University has expressed its displeasure at a presidential order that turned its hospital into a State Corporation.
Vice- Chancellor Paul Wainaina said the university cannot attain its original intention of establishing and owning a teaching and referral hospital after the ministry of Health “snatched” its facility.
“There are no merits of the hospital operating as a parastatal considering the original objectives of establishing Kenyatta University Hospital and judging from the challenges being faced by the universities already engaging with hospitals established as parastatal,” Prof Wainaina told Parliament’s Committee on Implementation of House Resolutions. He said due to lack of proper controls, differences in areas of priority will arise, adding that while the university would focus on research, the hospital’s focus would be on pure patient care.
Prof Wainaina said President Uhuru Kenyatta issued an Executive Order converting the facility from university teaching hospital to a parastatal before KU made its final case to run it independently.
“We are not satisfied with the reasons for taking over the hospital that was mooted by KU and developed with funding from Exim bank of China.”
“Before the Executive Order came, we were to make a presentation where we were saying we are able to run hospital and repay the loan.
“We have looked at the Executive Order and we have said the way it is, we would be able to use it to achieve some of the goals but not all of them,” Prof Wainaina said.
He told MPs that whereas there were consultations on how the hospital would be managed, KU insisted on the need to be allowed to run the hospital independently.
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