Sh38 billion worth of health equipment is lying idle in hospitals countrywide as nurses have not been trained to use them.
The National Nurses Association now want the government to faciliate training for health workers to familiarise themselves with equipment to be able to deliver services effectively.
The equipment has so far been installed in 92 hospitals, including all the 47 county hospitals, six referral hospitals and other selected for the exercise.
“There is an urgent need for the training of nurses on the use of the machines. Most of county hospitals have taken these machines but have kept them in inventories because nurses don’t know how to operate them,” NNA-K chairman Jeremiah Maina said.
He said the number of nurses trained on using the equipment is less than 300 and majority of them are in Nairobi county.
German medical equipment dealer, General Electric, is in charge of the installations and has opened a health care skills and training institute at the Watermark plaza, Karen in Nairobi.
The training institute will furnish health workers with skills on how to use the new equipment and facilities.
Equipment includes X-ray an dialysis machines, theatre equipment, incinerators, sterilizing units complete with surgical sets and assorted cancer treatment machines.
Acting director of medical services Jackson Kioko said, however, that more than 800 nurses have been trained.
Maina was speaking at a Nairobi hotel during a signing of an MoU with Taiwan government to train the nurses on the new machines.
He said two nurses will travel to Taiwan for the training to gain skills on use of the equipment.
“Seven others will follow for the similar training later in the year,” he said.
The two will train on treatment of kidney, handling emergency illnesses and accidents victims, in a program funded by the government of Taiwan.
