How Elgeyo Marakwet County lost over KSh7M Covid-19 funds!

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“County department of Economic and Public  Planning  is expected to table its findings and recommendations regarding the Loss of  Covid funds”

A Covid-19 graffiti at the Uasin Gishu County commissioner's office/Photo James Gitaka

While the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared COVID-19 over as a global health emergency. COVID-19 is not over as a global health threat.

A Consolidated Audit report of the  Auditor general  on Covid-19 vaccine roll out in Kenya indicates the country  lost  millions of  shillings   due  to weaknesses  noted  in some of the processes such as failure to budget  for the  role out  activities ,lack of  practical adherence to waste  disposal regulations  as well as inadequate  staff  and training  at the facilities .

At the National Level the Country lost  almost Ksh 1B through unexplained variance totaling to 1,566,973 vaccine doses .

The Government of  Kenya through the Eldoret Regional vaccine Store disbursed a total 134,860 doses of  various types of vaccines to Elgeyo Marakwet County  between 31st March 2021 to  31st March 2022 .

By 31st March 2022 , 19,785 vaccine  doses   were either  expired ,damaged or  wasted while another 11,540 doses were missing , these challenges led to  loss of over KSh7M .

Weaknesses were noted on the  storage  facilities that  did not comply with storage  conditions  set out  for Covid-19 vaccines by WHO.

Many of these  facilities were in  Keiyo North  Sub-County and  Marakwet  West  Sub-County.

“The  facilities  did not  have  a cleaning log,no written procedure and  program for pest control nor any written procedures for the  clean-up  of  any spillage to ensure complete removal of any risk of  contamination.”

According to the  Auditor general the county also failed  to adhere to the waste  disposal regulations ,7,721 doses had  not  been administered  as  indicated on the  vials by the manufacturer leading to loss  of Public  funds.

Over 6,000  expired vaccine doses  had not  been disposed  from the  facilities by the  time of the special audit.

Vaccines  in Elgeyo Marakwet were distributed from Regional Vaccines stores to the  sub County stores as there was no County store and in some cases the vaccines were transported directly to administering facilities.

The County failed  to provide  a  separate  budget for the  transportation of  vaccines hence informing the high numbers of  expired and or damaged vaccine doses.

John Keen Murkeu the Director Finance  then and Nixon Changwony the then Chief officer  Finance contravened regulations 29 of the Public  Finance management (County Government) Regulations ,2015 by failing to provide a separate budget  for the  Covid-19 vaccination costs , including transportation, training and  capacity building as well as  procurement of auxiliary services  such as syringes and  safety boxes.

Elgeyo Marakwet relied on the National Budget allocation of KSh.4,846,100  where over  KSh2M was  spent  on vaccinators and  Volunteer allowances while in 10 health facilities used  for the  storage of vaccine doses  there was no contingency plan in case of power failure ,equipment breakdown or cold chain breach.

Mary Kipchumba the  then C.O health Services  Elgeyo Marakwet and  Dr. Patrick Kosgei the then Director Medical Services failed  to provide  documents  and  evidence  over Donor support by partners and  how  such  monies were  utilized.

As early as 2020, funds were allocated to purchase 10 ICU beds in the County.

Access to quality primary health care is still a pipe dream, one that COVID-19 pandemic managed to unearth; worse still, the situation remains the same especially in most of the  sub county health facilities.

Kenya as a Nation has only 518 Intensive care Unit beds. Out of these 439 had already been occupied by patients across the country. Nairobi County has the highest number of ICU beds at 247.

According to Hon. Shadrack Lulley, a former member of the Elgeyo Marakwet County Assembly, who was also the chairperson of the Health committee, the County assembly allocated Ksh.30M  to the Iten county referral hospital in 2020 to assist in the fight against COVID-19.

According to the Ministry of health an ICU bed costs upto Ksh 8 million .

which would mean with 30M,the County would have procured atleast  4 ICU beds.

According to the Ministry of Health before the Covid- 19 cases were reported in Kenya,there was no single ICU bed in Elgeyo Marakwet County.

The Ministry of Health recorded only 228 Covid -19 confirmed cases in  Elgeyo Marakwet County ,out of  which 3 cases were critical and needed critical attention .

According to the Chief officer  clinical services in the  Elgeyo Marakwet Health department Jeremiah Chirchirch,  atleast by now  the county boasts of  three fully  equipped  ICU units  with life support, ventilators and  cardiac  arrest  equipment as well as  two HDU-High dependency units.

Jackline Kaben a Covid-19 survivor from Elgeyo Marakwet County recounted that when she fell ill July 2020, she was admitted at the Iten County Referral Hospital and later requested to be referred to The Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital where she thought she could get better services given that she had underlying health condition

Kaben suffered from High blood pressure, she shared that her family did not want to risk it. In case her condition got worse and would be in need of an ICU bed.

Jackline opines  that there was no ICU bed readily available for her at the Iten County referral Hospital despite the colossal amount of monies directed to the county by the Government and Donor partners.

Dr. Darwin Ambuka , KMPDU  Chairperson, North rift region, notes , “There has never been accountability in the whole country with regards to Covid 19 funds and not even in Elgeyo Marakwet County.

“Much of  the  Covid -19 Funds  were misappropriated ,The  funds would  have boosted the capacity of County health facilities ,however looking back nothing is  worth reporting “Notes Dr. Ambuka.

The Ministry of Health Kenya recommends that a county hospital should have at least 10 intensive care unit beds and 10 High Dependency Unit beds ,however this is work in progress  In Elgeyo Marakwet County.

The Elgeyo Marakwet County department of Economic and Public  Planning  is expected to table its findings and recommendations regarding the Loss of  Covid-19 funds at the County.

More than three years later, Covid-19  has caused an estimated 764 million cases globally and about 5 billion people have received at least one dose of  the vaccine,millions of people are still getting infected ,thousands are dying, many are getting hospitalized and admitted to intensive care ,many are  suffering from long -Covid.

Any Covid-19 Variant that  is around  poses a risk for each and  every one of us ,especially the vulnerable.

 

 

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