Editor's Review

Sifuna established that some wards had been shut down due to a lack of enough medical personnel.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has exposed a pending crisis at the Pumwani Hospital threatening its service delivery to the people.

During an impromptu visit to the facility on Friday, January 2, Sifuna established that some wards had been shut down due to a lack of enough medical personnel.

The outspoken lawmaker further indicated that the contracts of the available medical workers are set to expire in the coming week posing a grave danger to expectant mothers and newborns in the facility.

Senator Edwin Sifuna at Pumwani Hospital in Nairobi o Friday, February 2, 2024. PHOTO | COURTESY

From the photos shared by the ODM Secretary General, the facility also appeared to run out of stock of other medical equipment and medicine.

"There is an impending crisis at Pumwani Hospital. The facility has had to shut a number of wards due to understaffing. Meanwhile, contracts of half the medical staff expire this coming week," Sifuna stated.

"The County Government must pull up its socks and speedily regularize their employment. For a facility that delivers hundreds of babies a day, we cannot afford the problem to persist even a day," Sifuna told the Nairobi County Government led by Governor Johnson Sakaja.

Edwin Sifuna taking stock of medicine and other medical equipment at Pumwani Hospital on Friday, February 2, 2024. PHOTO | COURTESY

Moreover, Sifuna implored the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) to expedite the probe regarding a building which was burnt down in February 2023. Sifuna insisted that finalisation of the probe will allow the county to start using the building again to serve hundreds of Nairobi residents.

"DCI, this building at Pumwani Maternity Hospital burnt down in February of 2023. Management says although you took over the investigation into the cause, you have never rendered a report. We need that report concluded and the building handed back to the facility for repairs. The people of Nairobi need it. As things stand, no one can touch it because it is still a crime scene," Sifuna wrote.

A building in Pumwani Hospital which has been shut down following a fire incident which occurred on February 2023. PHOTO | COURTESY

The hospital was designed to be an autonomous, efficient maternity hospital where all mothers receive comprehensive essential maternity care. 

 It has 354 Obstetric beds, 144 baby cots and 2 Theatres. Daily normal deliveries are 50 – 100, and Caesarean Sections are 10 – 15.

Sifuna's expose threatens to lower the standard of the hospital.