PHOTO CAPTION: CEO of KNH Dr. Evans Kamuri In the wake of a huge public uproar over negligence by doctors at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) which led to the painful death of a two-year-old boy whose skull was lodged with a fork jembe, unhappy staff at the national facility have gathered the courage to voice out their concerns.
In a list of grievances raised to President William Ruto through a discreet e-mail, a medic has exposed how mismanagement of the facility costs dozens of innocent Kenyans' lives, including a certain day when over 82 patients shockingly died in the span of 24 hours.
At the centre of these scathing allegations is KNH CEO, Dr Evanson Kamuri, who is particularly blamed for playing a leading role in the running down of the hospital.
The ugly mess extends from extreme tardiness in the medical division, nepotism in recruitment, corruption in the procurement department and outright looting of public funds in dubious state-funded projects.
Contracts are erroneously awarded to companies linked to Dr. Kamuri's close associates, which sees him smile all the way to the bank with millions in kickbacks.
The submission also touches on how he masterminded the KEMSA heist where items procured at skyrocket prices for use at KNH were later diverted and sold to external customers, and the disappearance of Covid-19 donations which cannot be accounted for up to date.
An alarm is also raised over the rampant theft of drugs from the facility, with the source alleging that medication worth over Sh20M has been stolen in KNH in the last 10 months.
The theft was reportedly facilitated by officers from the DCI who have been camping and operating within KNH premises for the last year, harassing staff and executing Kamuri’s orders.
This has all been happening under the blessings of the CEO, who as it now emerges, is already lining up for a nomination to the Principal Secretary (PS) position and has been bullying KNH contractors into supporting him in his bid to accumulate Sh100Million to bribe his way to the government office.
Anyone who dares stand up against the mismanagement is immediately kicked out.
Recently some doctors who had been very vocal in challenging the poor management of the hospital by Kamuri had their contracts terminated.
This has left most of the workforce unmotivated and most are sinking into depression.
To make matters worse, instead of dealing with these critical internal affairs, Dr. Kamuiri saw it wiser to recruit a PR Company to manage KNH social media platforms at exorbitant costs.
Staff feel that this amounts to a waste of public resources on irrelevant expenditures and misplaced priorities when at the same time, some key pharmaceutical, non-pharmaceutical and surgical products are not available for patients' treatment.
Below is the e-mail from Kenyatta Hospital Staff to President William Ruto. "The President, Dear Dr. William Samoei Ruto, We would like to bring to your attention the following ten (10) issues in KNH that call for your urgent action. This is a call to you Mr President in addition to the letter we had previously written to you. 1. PATIENTS’ DEATH DUE TO NEGLIGENCE The impunity in KNH by the management is a very sad one. Kamuri has terminated doctors’ contracts and employed his relatives and those from his village. Quacks run the hospital. Undeserved deaths are the order of the day due to negligence. The latest case was the one of baby Trevor who had a fork jembe lodged in his head. As a staff, you have to praise and worship Kamuri for you to survive in KNH. Failure to do that calls for threats, demotions, and serious intimidation. No focus is given to the patients and many have died as a result including baby Trevor who was left to suffer for approximately 16 hours in KNH corridors. We are medics and can confirm that an emergency is always handled as an emergency. We have handled many similar cases in KNH and saved the lives of patients. Let the CEO and the Board tell the world what type of tests and consultations were being done by the medics that take 16 hours for a sensitive case like that. The underlying issue here is, Kamuri has employed his girlfriends and relatives in the entire hospital who are so negligent and non-performers. Some of them are even feared by their supervisors. This is just one of the cases. These things happen every day in KNH. Ask the staff and they will tell you devastating KNH facts. 2. KNH/T/67/2018-2019 INSTALLATION, TESTING, COMMISSIONING AND SUPPORT OF THE ENTREPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING(ERP) SYSTEM AND SUPPORT HARDWARE AND COMPONENTS The tender was awarded despite glaring issues and negligence by the evaluation committee and the head of procurement in preparation for the professional opinion. Through collusion between the head of procurement, CEO and Altrab contractors, deliberate arithmetic errors were made in the bid document’s scope and schedule of requirements’ pricing. In addition, variations have been irregularly done by the finance department under Dr. Kamuri’s directives and threats. 3. CONSTRUCTION OF PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY CENTRE AND BURNS MANAGEMENT CENTRE (BADEA PROJECT ) This was done through an international tender and was majorly funded by donors. Kamuri, who was then the head of Affiliations/Projects Management at KNH, colluded with the contractor and the KNH legal team to add suspicious and malicious clauses in the tender document with the intention of defrauding the hospital. The clauses favoured the contractor and indicated that in case of delayed payments, the hospital would pay the contractor interest on monies owed to them. This in itself is an economic crime. As we speak, the project has stalled for like a year now and donors are demanding accountability on the funds previously disbursed to KNH through the treasury after noticing Kamuri’s evil deeds. This is the project abandoned just near the KBS bus stop along Hospital Road. The 4-storey building, which cost an estimated Sh3B, is funded by Arab Bank for Economic Development of Africa (BADEA), OPEC Fund for International Development, SAUDI Fund for International Development and the Governement of Kenya. The hospital was expected to be ready by June 2021, close to 18 months late now due to poor donor funds management, misappropriation, insider dealings, and embezzlement of funds by the management led by the CEO. 4. KEMSA Heist What the public may not be aware of is that the KNH CEO, former KEMSA CEO, former Health CS, PS Mochache, and the Parliamentary Health Committee on Health are birds of the same feather. Dr. Kamuri was the mastermind of the KEMSA Heist. Items procured by KEMSA at skyrocket prices were for use at KNH. The ministry diverted UHC funds to KEMSA for KNH’s consumption. Covid-19 donations cannot be accounted for by Kamuri. In some instances, the goods never found their way to KNH. They were diverted and sold to some external customers. That’s why up to date, Kamuri cannot account for the donations that were released to KNH by KEMSA. We dare him to prove us wrong. 5. Medical Oxygen at KNH At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in KNH, Kamuri introduced a friend’s company to supply oxygen. The company never delivered the number one critically prioritized product to the hospital. Despite nonperformance, complaints and cries by the medics, the contract was never terminated. This led to hundreds of deaths in the hospital which was an unprecedented scenario. The most unfortunate one was the day when 82 patients died in the hospital within a period of 24 hours. Kamuri threatened staff not to leak this information and never got to the media. Reports are cooked to present an improper and not actual status of the hospital. 6. Doctors’ Contract Termination Doctors who have been doing their best for the hospital and who have been very vocal in challenging the poor management of the hospital by Kamuri had their contracts terminated. The doctors have been demanding for quality of service and constantly requesting the betterment of the working conditions. This has, directly and indirectly, led to the death of many staff due to depression and mental health-related complications. 7. Procurement of Insurance Underwriting Services This was advertised by KNH via tender referenced KNH/T/46/2021-2022. The CEO facilitated bid rigging that ensured the tender for group life insurance for staff was customized to only qualify Jubilee Insurance. The quotation for Jubilee was raised to 60M per year so as to factor in the CEO’s and Management’s cut of 15M per year for two (2) years. This amounted to a 30M kickback from the said tender. Previously, the tender had a budget of KSHS. 40M as per the previous budgets approved by the CEO. 8. KNH Othaya Construction Tenders: KNH/T/61/2020-2021 KNH/T/62/2020-2021, KNH/T/63/2020-2021, KNH/T/60/2020-2021, KNH/T/59/2020-2021, KNH/T/57/2020-2021, KNH/T/58/2020-2021, and KNH/T/64/2020-2021 These tenders were advertised in August 2020 and awarded to several suppliers. Variations have been done against provisions of both the Procurement and Finance laws. Payments to contractors have been done way above the quoted prices and variations gone beyond the legally provided limits. Some of the tenders were erroneously awarded. 9. RECRUITMENT OF PR COMPANY We have also established that KNH recruited a PR Company to manage her social media platforms. This amounts to a waste of public resources on irrelevant expenditures and misplaced priorities. Why would a public entity with scarce resources like KNH waste resources on buying PR if everything was done the right way? When at the same time some key pharmaceutical, non-pharmaceutical and surgical products are not available for patient’s treatment? Some due to non-procurements related to unavailability or insufficient funds for procurement of those key items. The company is paid Sh15 Million to sanitize the dark and evil actions of KNH Management. Some of the posts are even misleading and lack proper medical content and in most cases mislead the consumers. 10. THEFT OF CANCER DRUGS Drugs worth Sh20M have been stolen in KNH in the last 10 months. You will be shocked to learn that this theft has been planned and executed by Kamuri and his team. He brought on board a team of 10-15 DCI officers who have been camping and operating within KNH premises for the last year. Harassing and executing Kamuri’s orders. These officers facilitated the daylight theft of the drugs at KNH Pharmacies. This was done in collaboration with some procurement and KNH security officers. They ended up sacrificing pharmacists and harassing them and even surcharging them those millions even when the case is in court for hearing and determination. Very unprofessional of them. We know how the medicines were ferried from KNH using a black Prado that belongs to one of the managers. This was done a few months before the elections and the money was used for campaigns. Kamuri had been promised a PS post in the Azimio government. It’s therefore our very HUMBLE plea to the president of the hustlers that your fellow hustlers at KNH have their contracts terminated and those who are in office are crying for your help in sorting the mess in KNH. Please save us the curse of Dr. Evanson Kamuri. We know that he has been looting these funds to support Azimio campaigns at the expense of the poor Kenyans who can’t get the required medical attention. KNH needs a complete overhaul. The same Kamuri is now bragging about how he will buy his next position in government. He has harassed contractors in KNH to support him in his bid to accumulate Sh100Million that he wants to use to bribe for a PS position. He was shortlisted. Let God guide you accordingly Mr President. We lastly request that KNH's name be changed from Kenyatta National Hospital to Kenya National Referral, Research and Teaching Hospital just like KUTRRH so as to mark a new start. KNH directors who head departments should also be changed after one term. The current directors have stayed for more than the allowed periods and for change to be instilled in KNH, the management must be changed. Thank you for your consideration Sir.