Red tape delays Nairobi’s use of First Lady’s Beyond Zero clinic

Victoria Beckham (centre) at the opening of a Beyond Zero mobile clinic at Ngarariga in Limuru. PHOTO | FILE

By LILLIAN MUTAVI,                                                                                                                         lmutavi@ke.nationmedia.com


Nairobi residents are yet to benefit from the services of a mobile clinic donated to City Hall two months ago under the Beyond Zero programme because of government red tape.
County health executive, Dr Bernard Muia, says the clinic has been gathering dust at a parking yard because it needs to be registered as a parastatal vehicle first before it is put to public use.
Currently, the chassis on which the clinic sits bears a private vehicle registration number.
It was handed to city officials with fanfare in September, becoming the 47th and last of such vehicles donated to all the counties in the country.
“We are working with the Kenya Revenue Authority to ensure we change the private registration to a parastatal one, but we are almost done,” said Dr Muia last week.
He added that the mobile clinic is fitted with expensive equipment which must be insured before they are put in service. The vehicle must also be fitted with a car tracking system to monitor its movements around the city, added Dr Muia.
The county health executive said the county was yet to come up with a rotational schedule of how the mobile clinic will serve all the sub-counties of Nairobi, and for how long it will stay in one area.
“A committee will present to me how we are going to rotate the mobile clinic in all the sub-counties, especially in the slums of Kibera, Mathare, and Mukuru kwa Reuben,” said Dr Muia.
During the handing over ceremony of the clinic, Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu said that over 5,000 Kenyans had benefited from Beyond Zero clinics across all the counties.