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The Government yesterday rejected the push to have Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH) revert to the learning institution.

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu, the State Corporations Advisory Committee (SCAC) and Attorney General Justin Muturi said transferring the hospital back to the university would disrupt the ongoing operations of the institution

In separate responses to the Senate Health committee investigating a petition seeking to have the operations of the hospital managed by the university, the agencies instead proposed that the two institutions should agree on how they will work taking into consideration the initial objective, which was for the hospital to be used as a training ground for medical students.

The move comes just a day after University’s Vice Chancellor Paul Wainana and the hospital’s board chairperson Olive Mugenda differed over who should manage the hospital.

The differences between the two played out before MPs who sit in the National Assembly’s Public Investment Committee on Governance and Education that is also investigating the matter.

Yesterday, Machogu said that the Ministry is unable to facilitate the transfer of the hospital back to the university as it will require the revocation of Legal Notice No 4 of 2019 that declared it a parastatal.

He instead told the University Vice Chancellor Paul Wainana to work with the hospital for the benefit of the students in the school of medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health and Dentistry,
Said Machogu: “To revert KUTRRH to Kenyatta University, it would therefore be mandatory to revoke the legal notice No 4 of 2019 governing its establishment.

This would have to be preceded by fundamental amendments to the existing laws. Including the Health act 2017. It is also noteworthy that the change would disrupt the operations of the hospital.”c

SCAS, through its Secretary Simon Indumuli, opposed the idea of transferring the hospital to the university saying, removing the current referral capacity of the hospital could imperil the national Health referral stage as the hospital participates in the country’s clinical services platforms whose capacity stands at 56 percent.

The committee said although the idea of establishing the hospital came from the university, there is evidence that the Treasury is the one servicing the entire loan portfolio thus funding the construction of the hospital.

“It is in the best interest of KU to have its medical students exposed to real industry practice of a life hospital which operated real clinical services than for it to run its own hospital which is a kin to a department, for in so doing KU would have created a mock hospital that shall not provide students the live scenario that they will encounter once they graduate,” the committee said in its report.

Meanwhile, KUTRRH Board has welcomed Attorney General’s confirmation to Parliament that the level six medical facility is legally established as a State corporation.

In a recent appearance before the Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education, the AG confirmed that he had early this year issued a legal opinion to the Ministry of Education, demonstrating that from a legal standpoint, the Legal Notice No. 4 of 2019, in placing KUTRRH under the Ministry of Health, is properly based on the provisions of the Health Act, 2017.

Speaking in Mombasa, KUTRRH chairperson Mugenda described the AG’s legal opinion as a step in the right direction and welcomed ongoing efforts to enhance the working relationship between the national hospital and the university.