The Nakuru Level 5 Referral and Teaching Hospital has a new face at the top.

Santosh Devaraj, a business and healthcare management professional with roots in the private sector, has been appointed as the Hospital Director.

He has replaced Dr James Waweru, who had served as the facility's Medical Superintendent, navigated the hospital through several controversial crises, key among them being the disappearance of a baby's body from the hospital mortuary in early 2025.

Against this backdrop, the decision to bring in Devaraj signals a shift in how Nakuru County's leadership intends to manage the hospital.

Devaraj describes himself as a healthcare business executive with over two decades of experience with expertise in project management, operations, business transition, and business development across hospitals, pharmaceutical consulting, and medical technology consulting spanning West Africa, India, and East Africa.

He holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from Annamalai University in India, and since 2018 has been pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services from the Open University of Tanzania.

Devaraj’s most significant executive role before his appointment to the PGH was his tenure as Vice President of Hospital Operations at the Mediheal Group of Hospitals, a position he held from 2015 to 2023.

Following his exit from Mediheal, according to a poster on his Facebook page, Devaraj took on the role of CEO at Bloom Surgical Hospital in Kisumu, although we can neither confirm this nor the timeline he held the position.

His public profile in Nakuru County has also been one to look out for by both the former and current administrations.

In years of 2022, 2023 Mr Deveraj was awarded medical ambassador awards by Nakuru events to appreciate his role in towards uplifting the community through the hospital’s Coporate Social Responsibility strategies.

In 2024, he was appointed as a Board Member of the Nakuru County Investment Board by Kihika, and is currently serving as a committee member of the Nakuru Athletics Club.

With his appointment as Hospital Director, Devaraj steps into his most consequential public role yet- overseeing a hospital that serves over two million residents and draws patients from Baringo, Nyandarua, Kericho, Narok, Laikipia, and Samburu counties, and he inherits a hospital under immense strain.

The maternal mortality controversies of early 2025, the missing mortuary body scandal, expired drugs in the stores, chronically overcrowded wards, and an ICU running at six beds when specialists recommend twenty are the ground realities of an institution that has long been under-resourced and under-managed.

Despite its controversies, hopefully, he will provide, or rather build on a solid foundation for Nakuru PGH.

Who is Santosh Devaraj, the new boss at the Nakuru County Referral hospital?

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Leleti Jassor