Head of Medical Services

Role Overview

This role carries the hospital's clinical authority. The person in it decides how care actually gets delivered across outpatient clinics, inpatient wards, the surgical theatre, maternity, and laboratory services — and is answerable to executive leadership for the standards, safety, and financial discipline of those areas. It is the right move for a practising physician who wants to step beyond individual patient care and shape how an entire facility runs: writing the protocols clinicians follow, developing the people who deliver care, and keeping the hospital firmly aligned with Kenyan regulatory expectations.

Key Responsibilities

• Translate hospital strategy into day-to-day clinical operations — setting workflows, staffing patterns, and service expectations for every medical department.
• Own the clinical governance framework by drafting, reviewing, and enforcing treatment protocols, standard operating procedures, and evidence-based care standards, then auditing how consistently they are followed.
• Drive infection prevention and control alongside patient safety and continuous quality improvement cycles, including root-cause reviews after incidents and near misses.
• Serve as the final escalation point for complex cases, patient complaints, and ethical dilemmas, working directly with consultants and nursing leads to bring matters to resolution.
• Lead and appraise the medical workforce — medical officers, consultants, clinical officers, and nursing leads — handling performance conversations, improvement plans, credentialing, and onboarding in partnership with HR.
• Design and deliver continuing medical education and clinical skills training so competency is maintained across all departments.
• Build and monitor the clinical budget, track expenditure, control consumption of pharmaceuticals and surgical supplies, and plan procurement of medicines, consumables, and equipment.
• Report clinical indicators to executive management and take charge of the hospital's clinical response during emergencies and crisis situations.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) from a recognised university.
• Active registration with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council, together with a valid practising licence — this is non-negotiable.
• At least 5–7 years of clinical practice, including 3 or more years in a senior supervisory or managerial position within a busy Level 4 or higher health facility.
• A master's degree in medicine, public health, health systems management, or an MBA is an added advantage.
• Demonstrated strength in health systems governance and high-level clinical decision-making.
• Practical grasp of clinical budgeting, medical inventory control, and resource optimisation.
• Proven ability to steady a team under pressure, manage medical emergencies, and resolve workplace conflict constructively.
• Working knowledge of Kenyan healthcare law, Ministry of Health policy, and KMPDC standards, plus the reporting and communication skills to present clinical performance to an executive audience.

What We Offer / Why Join

• A full-time, on-site leadership post based in Embu, Kenya, carrying clinical on-call responsibility.
• Competitive remuneration, set according to experience.
• Direct accountability to hospital directorship and executive management, with genuine authority over clinical standards across every department.
• The chance to build clinical governance, training, and quality systems that outlast your tenure.

Qualified medical practitioners should send an updated CV, a cover letter, and current KMPDC practising credentials to the hospital's recruitment desk or designated application portal.