The Malava Police Station in Kakamega County is on the verge of being evicted in a land ownership row with Malava Sub-County Hospital.
This comes after it was established that the station was constructed on land belonging to the hospital and needs to move to pave the way for the facility’s expansion.
Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, who visited the hospital recently, initiated a move to relocate the station.
Mr Khalwale said Malava is among health facilities in the county that face challenges in providing quality services and had failed to grow because of lack of land.
The senator cited lack of adequate medical staff, drugs and non-pharmaceuticals as some of the challenges at the Malava hospital.
“Malava hospital is congested and lacks adequate infrastructure like outpatient and maternity wards and yet it is the second largest in the county,” said Mr Khalwale when he visited the hospital on a surprise fact-finding tour.
“This hospital does not require improvement of existing infrastructure but a brand-new hospital just like it was done in Kakamega and Mumias.”
The outspoken senator called on Governor Fernandes Barasa to plan for construction of a new hospital in Malava.
He added: “As the senator, I will support him to ensure the Malava health facility is given a facelift. Let the county government provide alternative land for the police station, which was constructed within the hospital land, so that the health facility is expanded.”
He said about 350 children were delivered at the hospital per month.
Room for expansion
Moving the police station will allow for construction of a new maternity ward. He said.
Mr Khalwale, who also visited Navakholo and Kakamega County General Hospital, said services at most hospitals in the county were inadequate.
He appealed to Mr Barasa not to use hospitals as revenue streams but ensure that money generated there is utilised within the same hospitals.
He claimed hospitals collected money and gave it to the county for the governor to decide how to use it.
“Let all hospital medical superintendents be signatories to the accounts of their hospitals so that they can plan for the money generated within their facilities. Taking hospital money into the county revenue fund frustrates the intention of cost service sharing,” he said.
He said senators will make it a criminal offence for governors to categorise payments at health facilities as county revenue.
“Governors should ensure county medical officers and those from the sub-counties are in charge of hospital collections to stop micromanaging of resources,” he said.
Kakamega Deputy Governor Ayub Savula, who also visited the hospital separately, acknowledged the problem of congestion.
“I concur with the senator that there is a need to expand the hospital. We shall engage with the Ministry of Interior and other stakeholders to discuss the relocation of the police station,” said Mr Savula.
Kakamega County Police Commander Joseph Kigen said he had not received any eviction notice.
“I am shocked by the decision to move a police station yet it is protecting the safety of the said hospital alongside other residents within Malava. We shall discuss this matter if it will be brought to our attention,” said Mr Kigen. BY DAILY NATION