Nairobi Hospital has recovered Sh1 billion from insurers in the last one year, bringing down outstanding debts for services offered to Sh2.2 billion.
The hospital says the money has been recovered through claims from private insurance providers and the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
The hospital also initiated negotiated repayment plans for patients paying from their own pockets.
Speaking during a stakeholders’ roundtable meeting on Wednesday, the hospital chief executive James Nyamongo said the hospital was now on track to recovery.
“We’ve recovered significantly. Our cash flows have improved and our systems are alive and working. We’re back to the green (profitability) zone,” Nyamongo said.
In recent years, the hospital has been reeling under the weight of corruption including irregular tender awards, vicious boardroom wars, and huge debts from non-payment of insurance claims for services.
“We were offering services to patients but some insurance would take longer to pay,” said Mr Nyamongo.
Mr Nyamongo was appointed in December 2020 to steer the hospital out of the crisis after Dr Allan Pamba was ousted just six months into the job.
Court filings by Dr Pamba linked his ouster to multi-billion shilling contracts for the installation of security systems, debt collection services and the construction of the Covid-19 hospital unit.
Mr Nyamongo says the hospital has been on an aggressive cost-cutting strategy. In May last year, the premier health facility laid off 200 workers to cut costs and clear staff who had been implicated in graft audit.
“There were many middlemen in the supply chain. This made medical products expensive. This cost would be passed on to the patients,” he said.
The hospital has now embarked on plan to establish five outreach centres in Nakuru, Kisumu, Embu, Kisii and Mombasa counties.
The CEO said the centres will serve as contact points with the counties to support nurses in specialist areas.
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