Senate Committee recommends KUTRRH return to Kenyatta University management

A Senate committee has recommended that Kenyatta University rejoin the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral, and Research Hospital (KUTRRH) management.

The committee, under the leadership of Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago, compiled the recommendation as part of a comprehensive report last month, but the Senate has not yet tabled it for formal adoption.

In 2019, a legal notice transformed KUTRRH, initially established in 2010 as a university teaching hospital, into a parastatal.

This shift removed the university vice chancellor and one university council representative from the hospital board, leaving KU with only one representative on the nine-member board. Prof. Olive Mugenda currently chairs the board that oversees the hospital.

The Senate committee's report urges the revocation of Legal Notice No. 39 of 2021, which formalised these changes.

“The committee recommends that the initial concept of KUTRRH as an education and research facility of KU be safeguarded through the revocation of Legal Notice No. 39 of 2021,” stated the report. It also suggested that the hospital board's effective date of revocation and reconstitution coincide with the end of its current term.

In addition to these recommendations, the committee proposed amendments to the Health Act, 2017, the Universities Act, and the State Corporations Act. These changes would facilitate the creation of Level 7 hospitals, specifically designed as university teaching facilities. KUTRRH is recommended to be the first hospital to achieve this new designation.

The committee, formed on October 17, 2022, was tasked with addressing a petition by Jafar Muhsin Kasay and others concerning the management and utilisation of the hospital by KU medical students.

Full access

Kasay's petition requested full access for KU medical students to KUTRRH, as well as the revocation of Legal Notice No. 4 of 2019, which only the President can annul. The petition also demanded the reversion of KUTRRH to a university hospital, solely for the use of College of Health Sciences students.

Responding to these requests, the Mandago committee directed KUTRRH to fully transfer the academic/training block to the KU School of Health Sciences within three months. The hospital will maintain a mortuary in this block, but it must also allow KU students to establish an anatomy laboratory.

The Senate report emphasised the need to implement these measures within six months of their adoption to ensure a smooth transition.

The origin of KUTRRH dates back to a Memorandum of Understanding signed on May 28, 2010, between Kenyatta University and the China Jiangxi Corporation for International Economic and Technical Cooperation. Kenyatta University financed the hospital's construction with a loan from the China Exim Bank, allocating approximately 90 acres of land. The Treasury justified the hospital’s transformation into a parastatal, citing the financial obligation of repaying the loan.

Last year, KU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Paul Wainaina highlighted the university’s vision for the hospital to be an integral part of the School of Health Sciences, prioritising medical education and research with quality clinical services as a secondary benefit. This vision contrasts with the current structure of national referral hospitals, which focus primarily on clinical services.

KUTRRH currently serves as Kenya's leading cancer treatment facility, offering vital services to the country and positioning itself to improve medical education and research under the proposed new structure.