Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi has claimed his administration is struggling with pilferage of medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and essential medical items at various health facilities across the county.

This comes despite Abdullahi’s administration allocating 40 percent of its annual budget to healthcare, with healthcare workers alone consuming a substantial Sh2 billion.

Speaking at the Wajir Afya House during the commissioning of 200 healthcare workers yesterday, Abdullahi stated that his administration is also grappling with staff attendance issues at various work stations.

He attributed these problems to the presence of ghost workers, which he said has adversely affected service delivery.

“We are developing an automation plan for our human resources at all health facilities, including the county referral hospital. This plan will also help track medical commodities being distributed to various hospitals across the county as well help in collection our own generated source of revenue,” said Abdullahi.

“Remember, we inherited a dysfunctional hospital system where staff did not show up for work, the main hospital was filthy, and it was filled with ghost workers,” he added.

He explained that his administration has renovated the Wajir County Referral Hospital which earmarked to be upgraded to level five hospital and additional 42 health facilities have constructed while another 11 facilities that have been renovated.

“The idea behind recruiting these healthcare workers is to staff the facilities that have already been built with government funds, ensuring they provide the intended services. We are also constructing a Level Five hospital, which is progressing visibly, and I am hopeful it will be up and running by December,” he said.