The Standard investigation has uncovered a dire shortage of critical blood test reagents, essential drugs, and nutritious food for patients, problems compounded by alarming security lapses at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), the largest referral hospital in East and Central Africa. 

According to multiple senior insiders, these failures are directly linked to a National Treasury directive that has starved the hospital of operational funds and placed the lives of hundreds of patients in grave danger by compromising the quality of healthcare. This, despite the medical facility collecting Sh40 million to Sh60 million daily from patients and being owed, according to government figures, approximately Sh1.58 billion by the Social Health Authority (SHA).