By Dawan Africa - Admin
Kenya, 1 May 2026 - Veteran gynaecologist and Nairobi Hospital director Dr Job Obwaka has died at the age of 83 at a hospital in Nairobi, his family confirmed on Friday.
His family said he passed away in the evening after being rushed unconscious to the same hospital he served for decades, but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Dr Obwaka's death comes weeks after his dramatic arrest over alleged falsified records, a move that triggered outburst across the country, with the United opposition leaders claiming that there were attempts by the State House and Head of Civil Service Felix Koskei to gain full control of the facility that is highly reverred across the East African region.
In March, several hospital officials, including Dr Obwaka were arrested.
Dr later fell ill and was rushed to hospital while awaiting court proceedings at the Milimani Law Courts.
Other doctors later issued a statement defending their move to seek intervention of President William Ruto and Koskei.
The senior consultants said the situation at the hospital had deteriorated significantly over recent years, prompting them to escalate the matter to senior government officials.
“We have seen the hospital at its best, and we have borne witness to its deterioration over the last few years,” the doctors said in the statement.
The group described Nairobi Hospital as a critical national institution, noting that the facility sits on 21.8 acres of public land held in trust for the purpose of providing healthcare to Kenyans and has served the country for more than seven decades.
Over the years, the hospital has treated prominent leaders and thousands of patients from across Kenya and the wider East African region.
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According to the doctors, the decision to seek intervention from the President, who serves as patron of the Kenya Hospital Association (KHA), the body that owns the hospital, was made after several earlier efforts to resolve the crisis failed.
They said their first major attempt to raise concerns occurred in March 2025, when they approached Head of Public Service to report alleged mismanagement and irregularities in the hospital’s operations.
Following the complaint, the matter was reportedly referred to the Attorney General, who authorised investigations into suspected corporate misconduct under the Companies Act.
The investigations, the doctors claim, led to the recovery of documents that investigators believe may be relevant to ongoing probes into governance issues within the hospital.
The consultants also revealed that in November 2025 they sought the intervention of Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, raising concerns about continued mismanagement and the impact of an insurance boycott that had strained the hospital’s operations.
However, the doctors said these efforts did not resolve the situation, prompting them to appeal directly to the President earlier this year.
“Our motivation was simple: to save a hospital that we believe is a national institution from collapse,” the statement said.
The doctors outlined several challenges they say have affected the facility, including mounting financial losses, rising legal disputes and governance disagreements within the hospital’s leadership.
Recently, the doctors have threwn dirty linen in the public, with outright finger pointing and counter-accusations.
Death of Dr Obwaka leaves a big vacuum as professional expertise and institutional memory fades away.