Unionist who worked as lab technologist without requisite certificate nabbed

Eldoret

Wednesday August 23, 2023,

KNA by Kiptanui Cherono

A former county government employee who worked in a government-managed health facility for seven years despite not having the requisite qualifications has been arraigned in court.

The former employee who was also the Kenya County Government Workers Union (KCGWU) Uasin Gishu county chapter Secretary, worked as a medical laboratory technologist without a diploma certificate in medical laboratory as required by the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board, KMLTTB.

When the suspect was arraigned before an Eldoret court, the clinical officer in charge of Pioneer Health Centre Naomi Arusei informed the court that she allowed Evans Makokha to discharge the duties of a lab technologist at the public facility despite not possessing the vital academic certificate.

She further told Eldoret Senior Resident Magistrate Barnabas Kiptoo that the former unionist declined to show her his academic documents when he was transferred to the health facility eight years ago.

“As the officer in charge of Pioneer Health centre I received Evans Makokha on October 16th, 2016 when he was deployed to my workstation. I took him on a familiarisation tour of the hospital and later to the laboratory where I introduced him to two other medical lab technologists,” she revealed.

Ms. Arusei further informed the court that the health center’s laboratory was manned by three staff, and it was only Makokha who did not possess a diploma certificate in the medical laboratory adding that she did not understand how he was deployed in the sensitive section.

The court heard that her problem with Makokha started when she asked him to show his diploma certificate in medical laboratory, a pre-requisite qualification by Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board for one to perform the duties of a medical laboratory technician.

“I tried to talk to him to furnish me with his medical documents but he stood his ground and declined to show me as requested. At that juncture, I did not continue to pressure him to produce the document since I thought he had his reasons for declining to hand over the documents to me,” Arusei revealed during her testimony to the court.

The officer was testifying in a case where Makokha is charged that on diverse dates between 1st March 2001 and 25th August 2020, at Pioneer Health Centre in Eldoret town, Uasin in Gishu County, he acted as a medical laboratory technologist at the

facility without a diploma in laboratory Technology from a college accredited by KMLTTB.

The accused person was arrested on August 25, 2021, by a team of police officers from the directorate of the criminal investigations department after investigations into the matter.

The officers, who were accompanied by officials from KMLTTB, seized him from the laboratory at the health centre while discharging his duties and took him to Eldoret central police station where he was detained.

The case will be heard on October 2nd, 2023.

Courtesy ; K. N. A