The County Executive Member for health Joseph Mbai has said a four members committee will establish how the exercise was conducted and whether the medics involved were qualified.
The 11 boys had gone for the rite of passage at Wanjengi ACK church in Kahuro Sub County but were forced to undergo a second cut after their wounds failed to heal.
The boys had earlier been taken to a private hospital for the circumcision by the church but after two weeks they were taken to Murang’a general hospital where the process was repeated.
Mbai noted that the team will investigate the private health facility that conducted the cut to establish whether it has the required standards and whether it is licensed.
“We also want to find out how qualified the doctor who did it is and if he is not then the appropriate legal measures will be taken,” Mbai added.
Mbai said circumcision is a sensitive exercise that requires precision, saying it is wrong for someone to conduct it knowing they lack the capacity to do it professionally.
If the centre or medics are found culpable of negligence, Mbai said stern action will be taken against them.
“We will also close down the facility it it is wrong to have been on the wrong and especially if it is unlicensed,” he added.
Mbai said in future, centres will be required to acquire a permit from the county government to conduct mass circumcision.
Medical practitioners conducting the exercise will also have to get an authorization letter to avert a recurrence of such incidences.
He said the county government will not allow unqualified medics to operate saying the health sector deals with people’s lives directly.
Mbai also noted that the county government will sponsor the circumcision of boys who could not afford the fees charged by health and church centres.
Murang’a Woman Representative Sabina Chege has also strongly condemned the incidence that she said amounted to negligence.
The MP said churches not concentrate on getting counselors for the initiates but should also ensure they get qualified medics to conduct the cut.
She called for the arrest of the doctor who circumcised the boys adding that his license should be cancelled with immediate effect.
“As the chairperson of the parliamentary health committee, am asking the medical practitioners board to investigate the doctor and find out if he is one of the quacks who have been taking advantage of innocent Kenyans,” she said.
Sabina who was speaking during the burial of 15 years old Juliano Kanyonyo who was murdered after undergoing circumcision in Kandara also challenged community elders to come out and give directions on the issue.
She said the central region has been hit by a wave of harassment of initiates by criminal groups of youths.
Kandara MP Alice Wahome on her part said she was pained by his death and called for the society to change some of the habits surrounding initiation of boys to adulthood.
“But we have to understand that no culture dictates that initiates should be terrorized. This is not culture, it is crime,” she said.
-ALICE WAITHERA