The Nairobi West Hospital has today unveiled a 24-hour customized helipad to bolster medical emergency services that target a growing local and international demand.
The facility, a first-of-its-kind Kenya, is expected to boost the hospital’s ability to respond to medical emergencies by facilitating air evacuations in the country and across the East Africa region.
Nairobi West Hospital chief medical officer, Andrew Gachie, said the lifesaving resource will speed up access to medical services, especially for critically ill patients.
“Each minute will now henceforth make a huge difference in our patients’ lives. The new helipad will speed up the time incurred transferring critically ill patients to the hospital, giving them the very best chance of survival,” Gachie said.
The facility will also cure the challenge of navigating traffic that has been a major headache in medical emergency evacuation especially for ground ambulances that normally waste hours of crucial time
“We are now moving away from the ground to a more efficient air medical emergency evacuation regime,” Gachie said.
The 50.5 meters-high helipad that is perched atop its 17 story- the modern medical facility is designed to give patients quick access to crucial care in cases involving trauma, critical care, surgery, high-risk birthing and premature newborn critical care.
The Helipad has been designed and built to joint commission International standards with a capacity to hold up to eight tonnes.
A trauma bay has been developed below the helipad to handle critical events during emergency evacuations.
Founded in 1980, the Hospital has expanded into a center offering general and specialized services to clients both locally and from the East African region.
The helipad will be a shot in the arm for the hospital forays into medical tourism buoyed by its solid reputation in the fields of cancer management.
“We now have the right modern medical facilities that can offer a record 2-5 minutes treatment of critical illnesses. We are changing management of cancer in the country and across the region,” Gachie said.
Through partnerships with Turkish and Indian firms, the hospital intends to offer packages of cancer treatments including bone marrow transplants.
The hospital has a 78-bed ICU facility and six operational theatres that will see the start of organ transplants over the next two months.
Gachie added the latest development is a great addition to the hospital’s infrastructural developments.
