Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Sh. 7 billion stolen as Sh. 40 million CT Scans bought at Sh. 227 million each

BY DAILY NATION

The taxpayer may have lost close to Sh. 7 billion in the procurement of 37 CT scanners at an inflated cost of Sh. 227 million per unit under the Managed Equipment Service (MES), which was a deal between the Kenyan and Chinese governments.

Ordinarily, a unit costs between Sh. 40-45 million at the current market prices, but the Ministry of Health procured each at a whooping Sh. 227 million in a deal described by MPs as a major rip-off.

What is intriguing also is the fact that even though health is a devolved function, making the county governments the end users of the equipment, the Council of Governors, were not involved in the procurement. This raises questions on who made the decision to procure the equipment.

The details of the scandal emerged when Health Principal Secretary Peter Tum appeared before the Public Accounts Committee on Monday to explain the 2015/16 expenditure and revenue accounts of the ministry.

The PS said even though the deal for the purchase of the CT scanners was a government to government one, the ministry abandoned it and opted to award the tender to Neusoft Medical Systems Co ltd, a Chinese firm. In the deal, the Kenyan government contributed Sh. 1.7 billion under the agreement of economic and technical cooperation signed between the China Development Bank and the National Treasury, which translates to 20 per cent of the total cost.

The Chinese government was to advance Sh. 7 billion. Neusoft was to supply, install, and maintain computer tomography in hospitals identified by the ministry for five years.

However, members of the committee chaired by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi raised questions on the procurement.

They said the scanners should not have been procured as they fall under the same category of the medical equipment the government acquired at a cost of Sh. 42 billion and leased to counties in 2015.

They put the cost of a scanner at about Sh. 40 million, suggesting the machines had been overpriced four times to benefit senior government officials in the ministries of Health and National Treasury.

Connect With Us

320,438FansLike
14,108FollowersFollow
8,436FollowersFollow
1,870SubscribersSubscribe

Latest Stories

Related Stories