The multi billion-shilling Mediheal Group of Hospitals is on the verge of collapse due to serious financial challenges.
The hospital, valued at Sh30 billion with five branches, with its headquarters in Eldoret, is one of the best equipped, and has been one of the fastest growing chain of medical centres.
The giant chain's financial woes have been the stuff of the grapevine for months, but the magnitude of the slump became clear after MPs in the Parliamentary Health committee made a fact-finding tour of the headquarters.
Endebess MP Robert Pukose, himself a doctor, and chairman of the committee, was shocked to find a once thriving centre of medical excellence that teemed with patients from as far as Kampala and South Sudan, reduced to struggling outfit unsure of the future.
The group, the brainchild of the charming former MP of Kesses Dr Swarrup Mishra and his wife Dr Palavi Mishra, seems to have hit turbulence immediately the founder lost his seat in the 2022 General Election.
Dr Palavi told MPs the hospital made the painful decision to fire 2,000 employees some of whom had gone to court because they had not been paid.
The crisis started last year when some medical insurance firms suddenly withdrew partnership causing a debilitating drop in revenues.
Suppliers, who are owed millions, followed suit and stopped providing drugs and related services on credit.
"For example our daily out patient numbers in Eldoret alone dropped from more 500 patients daily to less than 60 currently," Dr Palavi told the legislators.
Asked if the near collapse was political, a pensive looking Dr Palavi declined to comment but could only venture: "It's too difficult for me to comment on that question."
In 2022, the outgoing and indefatigable fundraiser Dr Mishra run as an independent after ditching Jubilee on which he had won the 2017 polls.
His rivals capitalised on his decision not to join UDA of President William Ruto to create the impression he had cut links with the party and aspirations of the people of Kessses who were strongly behind Ruto's party.
But Dr Palavi dismissed the claims Mediheal was a victim of political vendetta.
"Our current predicament is not in relation to our technical capacity to offer services, but more to do with finances," she told the delegation weeks ago.
MPs Julius Sunkuli and Joshua Oron were shocked about the Mediheal case and asked management to explain the sudden slide.
"We are shocked that the hospital is on the verge of being shut with all these modern facilities. This hospital is not just about the owner but also about the employees and clients," Sunkuli said.
Dr Palavi said in patient services had been shut down, and unless the financial position changed, it would be difficult to sustain any operation.
But she was also hopeful that chairman Dr Mishra was working round the clock to unlock the financial hurdles to get the hospital back to its vibrant best.
In the past three years, she said, the hospital chiefs borrowed from bank to expand services and open new branches in Nairobi, Nakuru and other regions.
The expansion went according to plan until the sudden decision by medical insurance firms, including the National Hospital Insurance Fund, to cut them off. The NHIF withdrew in the past six months.
But even before the NHIF shock, the hospital suffered a major financial blow the medical cover for teachers was withdrawn.
A large number of junior cadre police officers, a large number of whom got treated via NHIF could now not get treated.
"Much of our finances have been held up in many areas because of the situation we are in, but if all that is unlocked, then we will resume our services and with time get back to where we were," Dr Palavi said.
A philosophical chairman Dr Mishra declined to comment but left it all to God by saying: "God is with us and he will take care of everything."
He served as MP for one term during which he was widely known for his well-funded and well-attended political campaigns and donations to women groups and youths.
Veteran Eldoret rights activist and mobiliser Benjamin Leting' appealed to Ruto to rescue the hospital because of the thousands of people it benefits including employees.
Even though Pukose's visit was part of a fact-finding mission in relation to the ongoing probe of NHIF corruption, he said the trip to Mediheal was to find out why such a giant institution was facing an existential threat.
NHIF, he said, owed Mediheal Sh51 million and had paid out claims of more than Sh1.2 billion over the years.