Senate resolution on KU hospital transfer not implementable, Board says

The dispute over the control of the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital has taken a new turn after the facility’s board declared it could not implement Senate’s recommendations. 

The Senate Health committee had recommended the dissolution of the board and the transfer of the facility to Kenyatta University.

But when appearing before the committee, KUTRRH board chairperson Kembi Gitura said transferring the facility is beyond its mandate and the recommendations were not feasible for them to implement.

Of the nine recommendations made by the committee, most concerning the transfer, Gitura noted that they fall under the jurisdiction of other government entities. 

Gitura said their position followed a consultative meeting involving the university’s board and the State Corporations Advisory committee.

“The meeting agreed that recommendations 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9 are outside the control of the two institutions, as they fall under other government agencies,” he said.

In its report tabled in May 2024, the Senate committee called for the immediate revocation of the legal notice that established KUTRRH as a state corporation.

“The initial concept of KUTRRH as an education and research facility of KU should be safeguarded through the revocation of Legal Notice No 39 of 2021 and the reinstatement of the vice chancellor of Kenyatta University and the university council’s representative to the KUTRRH board,” the report read.

It also recommended that the term of the KUTRRH board should lapse with the revocation of the legal notice.

On the committee’s recommendation that KUTRRH grant KU medical students and faculty full and priority access to the hospital for learning purposes, Gitura said the facility was “ready” to cooperate.

“The hospital has always been ready to receive students and provide access and it remains committed to working with the university to actualise this,” he said.

However, he rejected the Senate’s directive that an academic or training block currently under the hospital’s ownership be surrendered to KU’s School of Health Sciences for medical education and research.

“There was extensive deliberation on this matter. Being a separate government agency from the university, KUTRRH cannot legally surrender the block. However, it has provided and will continue to provide learning spaces to the university.” 

Gitura questioned the legality of the proposed asset transfer. 

“How do we do it? Does the board even have the mandate to transfer an asset from one government agency to another?” he asked.

“This is a stalemate that I’m pleading with you [the Senate] to help resolve,” he added.

Senate Health committee chair, Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago, directed the university and the hospital to resolve the stalemate by September to ensure uninterrupted access for students.

“Let’s be clear: the welfare of these students is not negotiable. We are seeing signs of distraction and internal turf wars that must stop now,” Mandago said. 

“This is not about who runs what; it’s about providing the best possible training for our country’s future doctors.”

Gitura confirmed that the board had agreed to grant students access to the contested building, located about 500 metres away. 

The hospital had already facilitated the placement of KU nursing and other students in line with Senate recommendations, he added. Between April and July, the hospital hosted 114 students.

“KU students from various departments, including health-related disciplines, have benefited from placements at the hospital,” Gitura said. 

“Some students applied individually, while others, such as those from the Medical Laboratory Sciences department, were placed through official requests from the university.”

INSTANT ANALYSIS

Last year, the Senate also emphasised the need to implement this within six months. This decision is part of a larger directive to resolve a long-standing dispute over access to the hospital for medical training. The Senate directed that the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH) should fully transfer its academic/training block to Kenyatta University’s School of Health Sciences within three months.