Mombasa seeks public-private partnerships for better healthcare

There is an urgent need for collaboration between the public and private sector to ensure Mombasa residents get the adequate, high-quality healthcare they deserve, a Mombasa county government official has said.

County health executive Swabah Ahmed on Thursday said the 47 public health facilities that Mombasa has cannot adequately solve all the health needs of the more than 1.5 million people living in the county.

“The private sector remains a major provider (of healthcare services), taking care of 70 per cent of the inpatient and outpatient services in the  county,” Ahmed said.

She spoke during the opening ceremony of the newly renovated Aga Khan Hospital, Mombasa.

The hospital, which is one of over 300 private facilities in the county, serves more than 1.4 million people in Mombasa and over three million others across the Coast region.

Ahmed said the county health department has always partnered with the private sector to make better use of the available resources and provide comprehensive healthcare for residents.

“With world-class hospitals like Aga Khan, we will no doubt become stronger, more efficient and better equipped to respond to the health needs of our patients,” Ahmed said.

She noted that the rising demand for specialised healthcare services especially in areas of oncology, neurology, rheumatology, advance radiology, among others, has necessitated the county to invest more in research and partnerships with the private sector.

She said one of the strongest areas of collaboration is consultancy of players in the health department with the private sector.

“Now we need to regularise and streamline this partnership in order to optimise our human resource to provide quality care in our public health facilities,” Ahmed said.

Aga Khan Hospital, Mombasa CEO Sohail Baloch said the renovations, which took 18 months, has seen the bed capacity expanded from 86 to 115, with additional services offered.

Among the improved and/or additional areas include a state-of-the-art catheterisation laboratory, theatres, endoscopy and other support areas.

Others are a Dedicated Accidents and Emergency Unit, a larger Intensive Care Unit, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, High Dependency Unit and an Isolation ward.

“The hospital is now well-equipped to offer specialised care in cardiology, nephrology, oncology, neurology, paediatrics, general medicine, psychiatry, advanced surgeries, state-of-the-art diagnostics services and more,” Baloch said.

“The development underscores our commitment to advancing healthcare accessibility and delivering comprehensive, high-quality services to the community,” the CEO said.

The renovation project cost $12.2 million (about Sh1.6 billion) with the Agence Francaise de Development providing a loan of $8.54 million (about Sh1.2 billion) and the Aga Khan Development Network  providing a loan of $3.68 (about Sh497 million).

According to Baloch, the Aga Khan Hospital serves about 1.4 million people in Mombasa and an additional three million people across the Coast region.

Aga Khan Hospital, Mombasa has 15 outreach health centres across the county.

French ambassador to Kenya Arnaud Suquet said the French government is always ready to cooperate with Kenya in the health sector.

“We know the ambition of the government in fostering a universal healthcare. So France is partnering with Kenya both at the multilateral and bilateral levels to strengthen the health system to ensure equitable access to quality health services,” Suquet said.

He described the facility as a reference hospital for secondary care for the more than 1.4 million people that it serves in Mombasa and beyond.

He said critical health services like cardiology, oncology, nephrology and neuroscience are in fairly limited supply in Kenya thus Aga Khan Hospital plays a critical role in ensuring the government’s agenda UHC is achieved.

Aga Khan Development Network director of health Gijs Walraven said the healthcare needs of Mombasa and the Coast region will be well taken care of now that the Aga Khan is in partnership with the county government.

“Over its lifespan of 80 years, the hospital has been able to keep pace with the emerging healthcare needs of the people it serves,” Walraven said.

He said the public private partnerships that the hospital has embraced is the cornerstone of its service delivery.

“The goal that unites us is the desire to improve the quality, reach and breadth of healthcare delivery provided to the people of Kenya,” the director said.

He said through partnerships with the Kenyan government, the Agence Francaise de Development and Aga Khan Development Network, the hospital has been able to bring innovative, high-quality, cutting edge healthcare into the country in support of the mutual commitment to provide Universal Health Coverage for all.