By Anchor Writer

Medical Superintendents and hospital administrators in the county are facing a tough dilemma following verbal instructions from their superiors to return 50% of recently disbursed hospital funds in cash.

The Anchor has reliably learned that the funds are meant to be handed over to a senior officer for onward forwarding to a top official.

This practice, reportedly perfected within the health department, has become a conduit for siphoning public funds from hospitals into private pockets.

However, it remains unclear how the collected money is distributed—or if it ever reaches the intended recipients—since those facilitating the alleged scheme have no means of verifying the transactions.

Level 4 hospitals in the county recently received over KES 4 million, while health centres and dispensaries also received allocations. However, they are all under similar pressure to surrender half of their funds.

Several Medical Superintendents have raised concerns over the directive, fearing the imminent collapse of healthcare services due to rampant theft and mismanagement of hospital resources. They lament that their superiors appear more focused on extracting money from hospitals than on ensuring service delivery, including settling outstanding debts owed to suppliers.

A Senior Medical Superintendent in the county, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that all 11 hospitals under county jurisdiction have received unequivocal instructions to transfer 50% of their quarterly disbursement.

“This demand leaves hospitals in dire financial straits, leading to severe shortages of medical supplies and a decline in service quality,” he said.

Investigations reveal that hospitals are already struggling with mounting debts and critical shortages of basic supplies.

“For how long will our people continue suffering and losing loved ones due to poor healthcare services caused by rampant theft of public funds?” the medic questioned, pleading for anonymity due to potential repercussions.

The Anchor has also independently established that revenue generated by county public health facilities—including funds from hospital systems and reimbursements from SHA/SHIF—is not used to improve services. Instead, these funds are routinely swept from hospital accounts and diverted to unaccounted-for uses.

The directive to surrender hospital funds allegedly originates from the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Finance, Mr. Onesmus Kuyu. Controversy over sweeping hospital accounts is said to have triggered the resignation of former health minister Dr. Daniel Yumbya. Neither Mr. Kuyu nor Governor Wavinya Ndeti have stepped forward to explain why cash from hospitals is removed from the critical facilities, leaving them in desperate conditions.

Medical Superintendents and hospital administrators must remember that they will bear full responsibility when the law eventually catches up with those who facilitate the siphoning of public funds—whether for Chief, Officers, CECMs, the Governor, or any other officials. In the end, every cent of public money must be accounted for.