Dust has finally settled after a week of public uproar targeting service delivery at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH).
The calm follows a visit to the facility by Health Principal Secretary Ouma Oluga on October 10, 2026.
Oluga’s visit came in the wake of public complaints about patient care, after widespread outcry on social media over alleged negligence by healthcare providers.
The discourse had began after claims by a caregiver that the negligence had led to the death of their kin. This revelation opened a pandoras box, with hundreds of social media users sharing their painful experiences with the facility.
During his visit to the facility, Oluga called on the staff to prioritize service delivery, saying proper patience care and community engagement would attract positive reviews.
He urged the facility management never to ignore complaints from members of the public, even where staff disputed the accounts.
“We are not blind to some complaints that have been there on social media, and that is also why I was here. Just so that the staff can know that we are still at the helm of the leadership, that we are watching them, we are watching also the complaints from the community,” he said.
He added; “We cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand. We have to look deeply and reflect on ourselves to see the accuracy of our actions and the experiences those actions produce to the people and to the families around here.”
He urged staff to restore and maintain public confidence by ensuring that patients seeking treatment were treated with dignity, and that their health remained the institution’s primary concern.
“I want to tell the community that we hear you, we are here for you, and we are going to do everything possible to ensure that when you come here, there is no other agenda other than your health,” Oluga said.
The PS said improving patient care required more than competent doctors and nurses, noting that the conduct of every employee influenced how patients experienced the hospital.
“The cycle of care starts through the gate. So sometimes the doctor treated you very well, but the watchman didn’t talk to you well,” he said.
He added that poor treatment by support staff could undermine the work of medical professionals, making teamwork and staff training important in improving service delivery.
Oluga said the government would pursue changes in training and collaboration among workers and institutions involved in healthcare delivery.
He also called for cooperation between the hospital and training institutions, including Maseno University and Uzima University, to strengthen a patient-centred approach to care.
JOOTRH serves patients from more than 14 counties and was elevated to a Level Six teaching and referral hospital on June 18, 2025.
Oluga said the facility was expected to help address the region’s burden of diseases requiring specialised treatment, including cancer, sickle cell disease and complicated malaria.
He cited cervical cancer as a major challenge, saying the figures he provided indicated that 4,000 of approximately 7,000 patients were in the region.
He said strengthening JOOTRH’s capacity to provide specialised services would help reduce the need for patients to travel long distances in search of treatment.
