MTRH on the spot over unrecovered Intern salary advances, expired drugs » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya June 4 – Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) was put on the spot by the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Social Services, Administration and Agriculture over financial and operational irregularities flagged by the Auditor-General.

Appearing before the Committee chaired by Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wangwe, MTRH Chief Executive Officer Philip Kirwa was questioned over irregular salary advances amounting to Kshs. 930,000 issued to medical interns.

The audit report noted that the advances were extended to interns who had been contracted for less than 12 months contravening the hospital’s human resource policies.

The audit report shows Kshs. 890,000 of the total amount had remained unrecovered for over a year, with no documented follow-up efforts.

The report highlighted out the implications for the hospital’s overall salary advance balance of Kshs. 4.2 million part of MTRH’s Kshs. 1.3 billion in net debtors as of June 2020.

“The hospital might not recover the amount of Kshs. 930,000 advanced to interns,” the Auditor-General report stated.

Kirwa explained that due to delays in payments from the Ministry of Health, the hospital routinely offers interns advances to support their living expenses.

“Most of the advances are recovered during their term, but in rare instances where interns fail to clear properly, we pursue recovery through the Ministry and county governments,” he said.

He assured the Committee that stricter controls had since been put in place, particularly during intern clearance.

The Committee also scrutinized inconsistencies in MTRH’s inventory records.
Financial statements as of June 2020 showed a stock balance of Sh356 million but this included expired drugs worth Sh4.5 million, and some stocktake reports were found to be unsigned.

“The accuracy of the inventory balance could not be confirmed,” the audit report stated.

Kirwa told the Committee that the expired drugs were valid at the time of stocktaking, and blamed the unsigned report from Nyayo Pharmacy on a clerical oversight.

“We have already tightened procedures to ensure proper documentation moving forward,” he said.

The House team expressed deep concern over the matter calling for the former officials to be summoned.

“There is something fundamentally wrong. Whether the people responsible are still in office or not, this points to theft,” said Vice-Chairperson Caleb Amisi.

The committee chairperson instructed MTRH to engage directly with the Auditor-General’s office alongside its procurement and finance teams to harmonize their accounts and submit a comprehensive response.

“We are giving you time to regroup and return with answers backed by documentation so we can close these matters with finality,” he said