The Senate in Kenya has advised a petitioner who requested that senators intervene and sort out an alleged management crisis at the Kenyatta National Hospital- Othaya Level 6 Annexe to instead direct his predicaments to the Ministry of Health.

In a letter seen by PD-Digital and signed by Senate’s Deputy Clerk M. A Mohamed, the officials in the Upper House noted they had considered the issues raised in the petition and indeed they needed an urgent attention but are not in a position to deal with it currently.

“Upon reviewing the petition in terms of Section 3 of the Petition to Parliament (Procedure) Act, Senate Standing Orders 225, and 229, it is noted that the petition, though it raised important issues for consideration by the Senate, it is not admissible at the present time,” the letter read in part.

The Deputy Clerk said that since the matter had not been brought to the attention of the Ministry of Health so as they can address it, then it will be an uphill task for the Senate to chip in and help deal with the matter.

According to Mohamed the Senate will be in a better position to address the matter after relevant bodies are unable to deal with what was happening or they ignore to solve what was being raised by the petitioners who are residents of Nyeri county at large.

The petitioners who are led by Kiruga Thuku who is a Member of the Nyeri County Assembly representing Chinga Ward were advised to instead direct their grievances to the Board of Management of the hospital.

“In view of the foregoing, we recommend that you submit the concerns raised in the petition to the Ministry of Health,” the letter by Mohamed read in part.

In their petition, Thuku listed a number of challenges that they were going through which include; high charges for hospital bills, patients being detained in the facility if they are unable to foot bills and delays in admitting patients at the hospital.

He further asked the Senate and National Assembly members to hold public participation in Nyeri with the aim of finding out what was happening.

They also demanded that the facility gets a board of management of its own which will see the hospital upgraded to a level 6 hospital.