By Alphayo Otieno

Petty corruption in various forms is on the rise at Kisumu district hospital according to recent research.

The trend should raise concern about the quality of health care offered at the medical institution, the research study pointed out.

The findings were drawn from a survey involving 200 households. The study was jointly conducted by Transparency International Kenya and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).

Based on the research, a fuller account covering overall corruption in government hospitals will be released shortly.

The study highlights petty corruptive malpractices such as bribe taking, unethical behavior, theft, favoritism and gift taking in all areas of the public health sector.

Malpractice is seen as a pervasive problem in the country’s health sector, and is especially evident at the in-patient and out-patient facilities at hospitals and clinics. Overcrowding at the Kisumu district hospital is only adding to the problems.

Almost all the respondents, 98.5 per cent, said personal connections were “necessary” to get a decent hospital service. Over 60 per cent said they had used personal connections to obtain admission and various hospital services, while 52 per cent admitted to giving money and gifts to hospital staff.

Twenty-five per cent said they had given money to hospital attendants for extra care and attention. Nineteen per cent said they had paid staff to expedite the release of the bodies of deceased patients from government hospitals. Eighty-two per cent believed that corruption could be controlled if punitive action is taken.

Related research revealed that lower income individuals, including those who came from rural areas outside Kisumu town, had a harder time than others getting attention and service at the Kisumu district hospital.

It was found that hospital staff who came into direct contact with patients misused their position by encouraging patients to offer money for services.

It was also found that the public-private mixed delivery system had a negative impact on doctor-patient interaction. The study concluded that corruption in the hospital could be checked if there was greater public awareness about patients’ rights and less dependency on bribery to get services and jobs done.

Independent investigations by the press have also reveled that patients and staff at the Kisumu District Hospital denounce what they describe as “the collapse” of the hospital’s public services.

They also want their hospital chief Dr. Evans Akula and other officials investigated for financial mismanagement.

According to them, the mismanagement of the hospital’s funds is affecting not only them but also the thousands of poor patients.

In an interview last week some disgruntled staff cited some cases where poor patients die due to lack of medical care and laboratory services, delayed medicines and misdiagnosis.

Despite the hospital’s income and government support, patients described the quality of the hospital’s services as “a disaster.”

They said that the hospital pharmacy often has no supply of medicines and that laboratory services are sometimes unavailable.

They also assailed Akula for frequently refusing to hire hospital staff even if there are many vacancies. “Yet every time other people he personally knew or were recommended by his friends would seek employment, even if contractual or temporary, he would easily accede to them.”

The patients most of whom are residents of Kisumu cited a number of irregularities at the hospital like, lack of drugs, doctors suggesting a visit to their private clinics, doctors referring patients to private diagnostic centers, over prescription of drugs, diagnostic tests done even when unnecessary, and bribes demanded by staff.