Chief Officer for Preventive and Promotive Health Peter Lomorukai has commended Managed Equipment Services (MES) Project-National Government Ministry of Health for supplying medical equipment to Lodwar County Referral Hospital and Lopiding, that he said has promoted equity and quality access to health services in the County.

Lomorukai who is also Ag. Chief Officer Medical Services was speaking today in his office in Lodwar, while receiving a Multi-Agency team led by Dr. Jonah Onetiah of MES Project, who had paid him a courtesy call. The team comprises of Medical Engineers from Institutions of Higher Learning, Office of the Attorney General, representatives from the CoG and MES Project.

The Chief Officer also said that the equipment at LCRH and Lopiding Hospital has not only promoted access to better health care to residents but has also reduced costs and referrals to Eldoret and Nairobi, and reduced stress, thus promoting efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery.

He urged the team to visit the facilities to check on the status of the equipment and speak to specialists’ staff on other needs of medical equipment that they will need to serve residents better.

Lomorukai said that the team’s visit to the two facilities will later on inform discussions involving the Multi-Agency team and County Ministry of Health officials on extension of MES Project contract with the County Government. He urged the team to extend their services to the rest of the health facilities across the Sub-Counties.

MES Project whose main objective is ensure equity and quality in health care access, supplies medical equipment to all the 47 counties and four National Hospitals on contract basis.

While MES Project Chairman Dr. Onetiah said that the purpose of the visit was to assess the usefulness, status and availability of the equipment as well as speak about renewal of the seven-year contract.

He explained that the contract which was from FY 2015/16 to 2022/2023 had a window of a three-year extension when it expires this year. He also said that MES Project has so far supplied medical equipment such as radiology, theatre equipment, CSSD autoclave equipment and dialysis machine to LCRH Hospital, while Lopiding in Turkana West received theatre equipment, CSSD autoclave and radiology machine.

He added that MES Project had an obligation in the contract to maintain and repair the equipment to ensure access to the health services.

The meeting was also attended by CoG representative and County Director of Health Dr. Betty Langat (Kericho), CoG representative and Chief Officer Medical Services Aggrey Karani (Tharaka Nithi), Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral Hospital (KUTRH) Biomedical Eng. Peter Iregi, KUTRH Biomedical Eng. Julius Nganga, KNH Biomedical Eng. Simon Maina and representative of Office of the Attorney General Faith Pesa.

The County Ministry of Health was represented by Ag. Director for Administration Joyce Illikwel and Director Partnerships and Health Administration Nancy Nyanga.