Hospital tools lease: Contractors cry foul
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta and his then deputy William Ruto inspect medical equipment procured through the Managed Equipment Services project at State House, Nairobi.
Contractors providing theatres, intensive care units, imaging services and those sterilising medical equipment under the embattled Medical Equipment Services (MES) scheme have threatened to withdraw services in various hospitals in the country by next week.
Citing frustration from the Ministry of Health, the contractors have indicated that they will not continue offering maintenance and repair of the equipment until they resolve a stalemate regarding the extension of the scheme.
In letters seen by the Sunday Nation, three of the five contractors have vowed not to continue servicing their machines and equipment – and most of them need regular repairs and maintenance to operate – saying they have been stretched to the maximum.
They are demanding the three-year extension of the project as per the agreement with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government be released to them for the continuity of the project. If this doesn’t happen, the government will be violating the contract entered.
“We have maintained the machines without contracts and even this quarter’s money has not been released to us. We agreed that we were to be paid on a quarterly basis. Our January-to-March payments have not been released,” one of the contractors, who requested anonymity so as to freely discuss the sensitive matter, told the Sunday Nation.
They have concluded that if there is no payment and no contract signed for the extension of the project then there will be no services to Kenyans.
According to the contractors, a survey was done under President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration where the then Health cabinet secretary, Mr Mutahi Kagwe and the then Council of Governors (CoG) chairman Martin Wambora settled on three years as the extension period of the project.
A letter to the contractors from the Ministry of Health indicated that they were okay with the extension after reviewing the reports and confirming that most of the conditions set out in the contracts had been met. As such, they say, the ministry gave a nod for contract extensions.
“The Ministry of Health and COG have reviewed the report and we are satisfied that the six conditions set out of the contracts have been met satisfactorily and therefore gives concurrence to extend the contract,” the council said in a letter signed by Mr Wambora.
Reduce amount
In the initial contract, the six conditions stipulated for some of the contractors were that they were to replace the equipment with the new ones and they continue servicing the old machines.
Also, they were to reduce the amount that was in the initial leasing of the contract and agreed on a different amount for the contract extension.
Some counties had made a request for more machines.
Yesterday, the governors threw a spanner in the works by daring the contractors and accusing them of planning to force governors to shoulder a burden of a contract they never signed — as the contractors only entered a pact with the national government.
“The contracts came to an end and there is a new government in place. The ministry may want to put everything in order before the extension is done. If today the government says that they do not have the money that the last regime was paying, would the contractors be willing to pick that?” posed Mr Muthomi Njuki, the chair of the CoG health committee.
He continued: “We all know that currently, the government is struggling. Can they also be flexible and have a conversation and agree on a remedy that will work for both parties? They should also work on saving lives and not business.”
Mr Njuki indicated that there was a fact-finding mission that indicated that some counties never received the machines yet they were supposed to, and others have the machines and they were never erected.
“On the leasing value, should it be the same as the initial contract or should there be adjustments? How about the lifespan of the machines? After seven years, do we continue with the same machines or do you bring in new ones? How about the turnaround time for servicing the machines which has been a major issue?” he asked.
The contractors indicated that after they were assured of the extension, they went ahead to procure the materials to manufacture new machines to replace in all 47 counties including the national referral hospitals.
“Immediately after the agreement and an assurance given that our machines had a life span of seven years of the contract, we were to replace all the machines with new ones. We went ahead and procured new machines to attain a 95 per cent uptime. We spent money to do this,” a contractor told the Sunday Nation.
Calls and messages to Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha and Medical Services Principal Secretary Peter Tum went unanswered. In earlier interviews, Ms Nakhumicha said that leasing the equipment is the best way to go.
