Bishops in Kirinyaga County have urged the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board (MPDB) to relax a condition it has imposed on Kerugoya Referral Hospital not to admit new patients.
The Interdenominational Clerics from the area after visiting the facility and giving a clean bill of health on what the County Government had done so far, said the Board should suspend the condition as many patients were unable to seek for medical care from the private facilities.
Led by the area Anglican Church Bishop, Joseph Kibucwa, the leaders said having visited the facility yesterday; they were convinced the cleanliness standards had improved significantly.
“We urge the Board which has banned the hospital from making further admissions except emergencies to reconsider this decision since our people have been left without access to affordable medical care due to the prevailing poverty levels,” Kibucwa said.
The Clerics however, asked the County government to never again allow the facility’s hygiene standards to fall to such low levels which have resulted into a crisis.
The MPDB Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Yumbia wrote to the County Government on Monday ordering the hospital not to admit any more patients until the filthy mess was cleaned up.
Senior county officials led by the Chief of Staff, Selah Bonoko and the Gender and Sports CEC, Lynnette Njeru have been supervising the ongoing cleanup at facility since Sunday.
Yesterday a water bowser from the county was on hand to ensure the cleaners did not exhaust the taps as cleaners continued to brush out both invisible and visible dirt from the corridors of the hospital.
At the same time, the Hospital Superintendent, Dr. Hesbon Mburu dismissed as false media reports that he had bowed to pressure and resigned.
“You know am a surgeon by profession and come to the theater where am carrying out an operation and I do not understand where this rumour is coming from, “he said when contacted on phone yesterday morning.
The general public has also raised similar sentiments by the Clerics and pleaded with the Board to recede its decision and have the facility reopened. The hospital has dominated the media since last week.
The county Government has promised to redeem the hospital’s tainted image with various health related professional bodies visiting the hospital since the bad news broke out.
By Irungu Mwangi
