Nyeri has embarked on a journey of ensuring that each health facility in the county has at least one ambulance, Governor Mutahi Kahiga has said.
The county has started by slowly replacing the old fleet in what the governor said was meant to provide better health services to residents.
The fleet will be renewed by increasing it progressively.
Kahiga spoke on Thursday when he flagged off two new ambulances bought by the county at a total cost of Sh19 million, outside his offices in Nyeri town.
“The programme is meant to increase the fleet we have of about 14 ambulances.
"They are modern ambulances. The ones we have are quite old, some were bought in 2013 and have really run down,” he said.
Two more will be arriving into the county soon with Kahiga expressing optimism that in the next one or two years, the county will have increased this fleet to a reasonable number.
“This programme will ensure all our health facilities have at least an ambulance,” he said.
The two are modern, user friendly and are mini Intensive Care Units, meaning they will come in handy in the transfer of patients.
They will come in handy especially during this Covid-19 pandemic and will be used in the transfer of patients from one hospital to the other.
The county chief said at the moment, the vehicles will be stationed at Mt Kenya subcounty hospital and the county referral hospital but will be taken to other hospitals after the Covid-19 pandemic is contained.
“But once in a while, they will be moved to other subcounty hospitals,” he said.
Nyeri town is worst hit by the disease.
Kahiga said cases of Covid-19 are still high in Nyeri and lamented that KEMSA lacks some essential drugs in management of Covid-19 despite the county having money to procure them.
County governments cannot procure the drugs elsewhere and as a result, families of the patients have been carrying the burden of buying the drugs, he added.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
