An MCA has urged Limuru residents to be patient even as they travel long distances in search of specialised care after a local hospital was turned into a Covid-19 centre.
Tigoni Hospital was the only level 4 hospital with many facilities and structures but was converted into Kiambu County Covid-19 Centre following the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Limuru East ward representative Ngigi Karuga told residents not to criticise the move as it was meant to help contain the virus. Previously, the hospital served Limuru, Lari, Kabete and parts of Kikuyu, Ndeiya and Karuri.
Karuga said once the disease gets eliminated, everything will go back to normal and the hospital will start attending to all patients as it used to.
"Some services like X-ray, maternity and dental used to be offered cheaply at Tigoni. It is a public hospital," Karuga says.
"Patients from those regions who cannot afford prices at local private hospitals, have to travel far looking for them in other hospitals, since a lot of dispensaries and health centres near Tigoni do not offer them."
The MCA thanked Governor James Nyoro for accepting to turn the facility into a Covid Centre to separate Covid patients from those suffering from other diseases.
"Everybody in the country was shocked when Covid-19 was reported. Measures to ensure everyone was safe had to be put in place, and separating patients was one of them," Karuga said.
He was speaking at the facility when he accompanied Equity Bank officials on Monday to deliver PPE to health workers. The centre's head Dr Caroline Mwangi was among those present.
Equity Bank Limuru branch manager Joseph Weru presented PPE worth Sh29,000. He asked well-wishers to keep assisting health workers across the country so they can protect themselves.
"Led by Nyoro, the county has partnered with different stakeholders and we have built three blocks, added beds capacity, labs, and even health workers hostels," Karuga said.
"Once the disease reports will decline completely, we shall be left with a hospital with so many facilities. I'm sure some services that have never been offered will start and people will never go to big hospitals and other private hospitals in search of such services."
