Governor Sakaja approves CEO appointments for all Level 4 hospitals in Nairobi

All Level 4 hospitals in Nairobi will now be headed by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) instead of a medical superintendent.

The decision was made during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja on Tuesday where he approved extending the management structure of Level 5 hospitals to all Level 4 hospitals across the city.

The move, as explained by the Governor, is expected to bring enhanced governance and operational efficiency to these critical healthcare facilities.

"The cabinet deliberated on the establishment of boards for Level 4 health facilities to fill board vacancies in compliance with the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, 2012 (Regulations 2015), and the Facilities Improvement Financing (FIF) Act, 2023," reads the cabinet dispatch.

Among the key facilities to benefit from this governance overhaul are Mama Margaret Uhuru Hospital and several other prominent Level 4 institutions across the county.

The establishment of these boards is expected to introduce robust governance structures, enhancing accountability and operational efficiency within these institutions, the cabinet emphasised.

Explaining his decision, Governor Sakaja said that facilities need managers who see the overall picture as the professional staff focus on their core mandate, hence the need for CEOs.

"The hospitals are institutions that have to be managed professionally. From how you (patient) are received at the gate, to the state of facilities, availability of commodities, the physical environment, human resources, supply chain of drugs, food among others," he noted.

Sakaja further highlighted that having the CEOs will also oversee customer service which determines whether the patient will return to the facility to seek medical services.

"Customer service and satisfaction is top priority. The people of Nairobi are our customers and having them served right and properly in hospitals will be a priority for the CEOs," he added.

The CEOs will manage and oversee day to day operation of the hospitals. They will report to the executive committee member in charge of health and brief him/her on policy issues and report to relevant chief officers on the daily operation of the facility.

The Governor noted that medical superintendents will remain in office but they have now become the deputy CEOs for medical services. Medical superintendents will be in charge of clinical services.

"We have assigned the medical superintendents the role of Deputy CEO of Medical Services and the Hospital Admin the role of Deputy CEO Administration. They will focus on administrative issues, quality health services and revenue generation and optimisation," Sakaja said.

A Level 4 hospital has the same services as the Level 3 hospitals, plus X-ray services. They also include specialist standalone medical centres, medical-surgical, diagnostic, and clinical laboratory centres.

They offer holistic services and are run by a director who is a medic and at best a doctor by profession.

According to the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC), these facilities act as the principal primary referral hospitals and offer services that complement primary health care services to allow for the delivery of more comprehensive care.

Last year in September, Governor Sakaja appointed four managers to become the chief executive officers of the county's top hospitals (Level 5 ) saying the facilities need to offer more than medical treatment.

Those picked were Frederick Otieno Obwanda ( Mutuini Hospital), Alexander Irungu Wanjiru (Mbagathi), Christine Kiteshu (Pumwani Maternity) and Martin Alfred Wekesa Wafula (Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital).