MOMBASA: Nov 5, 2026
The National Chairman of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), Dr. Abidan Mwachi, paid an official courtesy call to the Acting Chief Executive Officer of Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital (CGTRH), Dr. Mohamed Hanif, in an engagement focused on strengthening healthcare delivery, improving staff welfare and addressing the hospital’s growing service demands.
The discussions provided an opportunity to assess the impact of key healthcare initiatives at the facility, examine workforce requirements and explore measures to sustain quality service delivery as the hospital continues to serve patients from across the Coast region and beyond.
Improving Patient Communication and Service Delivery
Dr. Mwachi commended the hospital’s establishment of dedicated customer care desks and the institutional hotline, 1599, as important measures for improving communication between patients and healthcare personnel.
These channels have helped bridge communication gaps and minimise conflicts between patients and healthcare workers. Effective communication and accessible feedback mechanisms remain essential to building trust, improving patient experience and supporting a more responsive healthcare environment.
Staff Welfare and Pension Administration
The meeting also highlighted measures taken to promote staff welfare and ensure financial stability for hospital employees.
An arrangement between H.E. Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir and a local banking partner has helped prevent salary delays over the past four years. The hospital also reported that pension disbursements currently stand at 98%.
KMPDU recognises the importance of reliable salary payments and efficient pension administration in protecting the welfare and financial security of healthcare professionals.
Growing Patient Numbers and the Need for Workforce Expansion
Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital continues to attract patients from neighbouring and distant counties, including Machakos and Kakamega, particularly for specialised surgical services.
This growing regional patient burden highlights the need to strengthen the hospital’s human resource capacity. The discussions underscored the need to double the current healthcare workforce to match increasing demand and prevent existing personnel and resources from becoming overstretched.
KMPDU maintains that expanding access to specialised healthcare must go hand in hand with adequate staffing, appropriate resource allocation and supportive working conditions for healthcare professionals.
Safeguarding Hospital Autonomy and Sustainable Funding
Dr. Mwachi called on the National Treasury to increase conditional grant funding to support CGTRH’s expanding regional responsibilities while safeguarding the hospital’s operational autonomy.
As a major referral facility serving patients beyond Mombasa County, the hospital requires sustainable funding arrangements that reflect the scale of its services and the geographical reach of its patient population.
Adequate financing is essential to maintaining specialised services, supporting infrastructure and ensuring that healthcare professionals have the resources required to deliver quality care.
Strengthening Centres of Excellence
The Chairman also commended CGTRH for its specialised cardiac services, particularly its round-the-clock cardiac catheterisation laboratory (Cath Lab), which was highlighted as the only such service in a public hospital in the region.
The hospital’s open-heart surgery programme was also recognised as an important component of its specialised service capacity.
These services demonstrate the importance of strengthening public referral facilities to expand access to specialised treatment and reduce the need for patients to seek care outside their regions.
KMPDU to Audit Mwezi wa Baba Free Healthcare Initiative
During the engagement, KMPDU announced plans to conduct a comprehensive audit of free healthcare services delivered under the Mwezi wa Baba initiative.
The proposed audit will provide an opportunity to assess the initiative’s implementation and impact, with the potential to generate lessons that could inform broader, State-funded Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programmes.
KMPDU believes that evaluating healthcare initiatives is essential to understanding their effectiveness, identifying areas for improvement and informing sustainable approaches to expanding access to healthcare.
Putting Healthcare Workers and Patients at the Centre
The engagement reaffirmed the importance of aligning healthcare workforce planning, staff welfare, sustainable financing and patient-centred service delivery.
As healthcare facilities continue to experience growing demand, investment in healthcare professionals must remain a central priority. Adequate staffing, reliable remuneration, effective communication systems and sustainable funding are essential to ensuring that public referral hospitals can fulfil their mandates.
KMPDU will continue engaging healthcare institutions and relevant stakeholders to promote policies and practices that safeguard doctors’ welfare while strengthening the delivery of quality healthcare to the public.
Good conversations lead to good ideas. Meaningful engagement must translate into practical action that supports healthcare workers, strengthens public health facilities and improves patient care.
