Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, sent a stern warning to cartels involved in theft of medical supplies from public facilities in the city.
In a tweet on Tuesday afternoon, the county boss shared a video of three men who were allegedly arrested while ferrying some of the drugs stolen from a government hospital on Monday.
The suspects were nabbed with several cartons full of drugs stacked in a van on their way to Murang’a following a tip-off from members of the public.
“After a tip-off yesterday, these thugs were caught this morning stealing a van full of drugs from one of our facilities,” Sakaja said.
The governor said the suspects will “serve as an example to the others who have been stealing what’s meant for the people.”
Sakaja said the county government of Nairobi has strengthened vigilance as it works to implement the Health Management Information Systems (HMIS).
Addressing the incident in Mombasa, Sakaja told members of the press that he had reached out to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Mohamed Amin to help him in the fight against theft of county resources.
“I have deployed over 100 police officers in all county health facilities to ensure security is provided to not only the health facilities but also patients,” Sakaja said.
“Any staff found stealing medical commodities, and equipment meant to benefit Nairobians will not only be arrested, but I will personally ensure they are jailed.”
He urged members of the public to be vigilant and help authorities to bring an end to the “criminal activities”.
“If you see anything unusual in our hospitals please let us know because we are doing all this for the common good of Kenyans,” he said.
“I am telling those who are doing this to stop. It is a curse to steal from the poor who would otherwise have survived but end up losing their lives due to lack of drugs.”
The incident comes days after Sakaja flagged off a consignment of medical supplies worth Ksh244 million at City Hall for distribution to county health facilities.
The consignment was delivered by the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KeMSA), a government agency mandated to procure, warehouse and distribute drugs and medical supplies for prescribed public health programs, the national strategic stock reserve, prescribed essential health packages and national referral hospitals.
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