The fight for control of Nairobi Hospital hits a third month as the institution orders extension of the suspension of its CEO Gordon Odundo.
In a letter sent to the embattled chief executive on Friday, the hospital’s board chairman, Mr John Simba, said management had decided to extend the suspension to April 13.
“Your leave expires on March 13 and the board at its meeting on February 25 approved your compulsory leave be extended to April 13,” said Mr Simba in a letter.
The extension of Mr Odundo’s suspension has added a new chapter to the crisis that is threatening to tear apart one of East Africa’s most advanced hospitals that has been at war with itself since November last year. At stake is the control of billions of shillings in tenders for projects and the staggering revenue the hospital generates on an annual basis.
In recent years, the hospital has been on a spending spree splashing billions of shillings on the Anderson Centre, a 12-storey building including a convention centre with a 400-seat auditorium and a massive kitchen block.
Last month, a group of senior doctors and members of the Kenya Hospital Association that comprises 1,800 members, who own the hospital, are said to have kicked out some board members from a meeting.