K.H.M.H. board members cope with ‘go slow’
While it appears that there are huge differences in the prices for medical supplies acquired from different sources, doctors at the KHMH have been complaining about the lack of basic items. The Board members also answered questions at their press conference late this evening on how the hospital will also deal with the shortage of doctors imposed by the “go slow”.
Francis Longsworth, C.E.O., K.H.M.H.
“The doctors have indicated that they will continue to provide emergency services, including surgery at the hospital.”
Laura Longsworth, Board Member, K.H.M.H.
“But it’s a situation that has to be monitored very closely and it means we will take the necessary precautions to ensure that patients receive the care that they receive, especially on an emergency basis.”
Francis Longsworth
“There are two aspects to the acquisition of supplies to the hospital. one is through the government tender system, which really should address a hundred percent of our needs in the hospital, but which from time to time I don’t think has ever addressed a hundred percent. And it’s more likely to address between lets say forty to sixty percent of those needs at any given time. This leads us to having to purchase privately outside of the tender system and for that reason we purchase up to fifty-three percent of our supplies at times, in any given month or week. because we have to balance what is given to us or what is available to us form the government tender, from the Central Medical stores, against our private purchases from time to time there will be gaps in the flow of the supplies because we try to make—for purposes of financial management, we try to manage our purchases efficiently. So from time to time, we will purchase. The supplies that we purchased may be used more quickly than anticipated an we run into shortages.”
The Board members also said that since they took over they have not given out any contracts to any personnel to provide the hospital with supplies and while they did not blame anyone specifically, the C.E.O. says that for years some of the hospital’s equipment has been going missing.
