Kenyatta National Hospital restructures operations, unveils decentralized management structure

By Today Financial News Reporter

Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), the largest referral hospital in the country has embarked on an ambitious restructuring process to turn it into a world class facility.

In deploying the strategy developed by the new Management team led by the Chief Executive Officer Mr Richard Lesiyampe, efforts to revamp the national medical facility have kicked off with the unveiling of a new decentralized and robust management structure.
Plans are also at an advanced stage to forge mutually beneficial and reinforcing partnerships with the private sector.

Mr Lesiyampe has moved to devolve KNH's management structure from a complex 45 departments to only three lean operational directorates each headed by a deputy director.

Speaking when he confirmed the unveiling of the new management structure, Lesiyampe disclosed that the three deputy directors will be assisted by nine senior assistant directors handling respective areas of specialization.

The new structure, Lesiyampe explained is geared at facilitating efficient service delivery while clearing operational bottlenecks.  The new structure he further explained has been designed to move KNH to a results driven institution.

"It's no longer business as usual here at KNH.  The unveiling of the new Management structure reflects our commitment to turnaround Kenyatta National Hospital into a world class referral and teaching facility devoid of unnecessary management bureaucracies," Lesiyampe said.

“The robust structure is meant to give the hospital direction towards realization of its vision and reflects the internal communication structure where related functions are put together for ease of coordination, enhanced efficiency and as a foundation to cultivate staff motivation.”

All the three operational directorates have also been mandated to handle all issues relating to their respective Staff performance, training, discipline, welfare, procurement, finance, quality assurance, corruption prevention, occupational health and safety.

The deputy directors will be further assisted in the day to day running of
the facility by nine senior assistant directors in charge of surgical, medical, private wing, finance and supply chain and technical services.

Other senior assistant directors will manage corporate support, special programmes, human resource and administration, diagnostics and health information and pharmaceutical and nutritional services.

To ensure the decentralized structure runs smoothly, respective senior assistant directors will have staffing officers drawn from finance, supply chain management, human resource and administration.