- On Tuesday, President Uhuru confirmed that he will soon be commissioning some of the remaining 24 hospitals that have been completed.
- To facilitate transport services for the medical personnel and patients, 34 ambulances have been made available by NMS.
Image: WILFRED NYANGERESI
“Access to healthcare is the foundation of a sound, healthy, secure and prosperous nation.”
These were the words of President Uhuru Kenyatta as he presided over the groundbreaking of a multiagency hospital in Kabete on Tuesday.
An expansion programme aimed at improving health centres is underway in Nairobi.
As part of the programme, the Nairobi Metropolitan Services is setting up a four–storey building in Mutuini Hospital in Dagoretti. It will have a 150-bed capacity.
An additional 80-bed capacity block is also being set up at Mbagathi Hospital.
Both Mutuini and Mbagathi are level 4 hospitals.
NMS director of health services Ouma Oluga told the Star on Tuesday that the expansion programme includes rehabilitation of health facilities.
In this financial year, Sh400 million has been set aside for rehabilitation. The works will focus on the county’s 104 health centres to enhance access to services at the ward level across the 17 subcounties.
To provide maternity care to mothers and support operation services, the NMS is setting up theatres at the Karen health centre, Kibra South centre and Westlands health centre.
In Lang'ata, Jinnah clinic is being upgraded to a level 3 facility, while Lang'ata health centre is being renovated.
A level 3 facility is a health centre and is run by at least one doctor, clinical officers and nurses.
Services offered include curative, laboratory, antenatal and postnatal, maternity, in-patient services, dental, pharmacy, TB clinics, diabetes and hypertension clinics and referrals to other facilities.
“For the Lang'ata health centre, renovations are underway and it will be more medical, excluding a theatre because it is located on an estate,” Dr Oluga said.
Waithaka health centre is also being renovated, while Kangemi health centre is being expanded.
Dr Oluga said the NMS is also setting up a perimeter wall around Chandaria health centre, where they will also build an epilepsy clinic.
The NMS will set up nine hospitals to reduce the patient load at Mama Lucy Hospital, which serves over 2.1 million people in Eastlands.
Kamulu, which will be a level 3 hospital, is under construction and so is Githurai, which will also have a theatre.
Zimmerman health centre will be a level 2 facility, while Tassia, which was commissioned last month, has two theatres. Mukuru Kwa Reuben and Mukuru Kwa Njenga are also covered.
“For Tassia and Kamulu, we have put them under the management of Mama Lucy so that surgery services cannot be postponed because of lack of personnel,” Dr Oluga said.
A level 2 health facility is a dispensary and is run by clinical officers. It offers outpatient, VCT, tuberculosis, laboratory, antenatal and postnatal services, curative treatment and referrals to other facilities.
Other new level 2 facilities will include Gomongo, Luckysummer, Mathare- Gumba and Ushirika and Soweto-Kayole, which were launched in February.
The NMS is also setting up a theatre at Baba Dogo health centre while undertaking a clinic expansion and putting up medical wards at Kasarani.
Riruta Satellite where a new building was built from scratch being among the 24 hospitals is complete, waiting to be commissioned.
To facilitate transport services for the medical personnel and patients, 34 ambulances have been made available.
Oluga said when the NMS came into office in March last year, only 13 ambulances were available across Nairobi. They have purchased five more.
A total of 15 ambulances were rehabilitated and are now functioning, while the Ministry of Health added one ambulance, bringing the total to 34.
President Uhuru Kenyatta in August last year directed the NMS to construct 24 hospitals across the informal settlements to make healthcare accessible.
Of the 24 health facilities, 19 would be built from scratch, while five would be rehabilitated. Of the 19 that were to be built, 10 will be level 2 hospitals while nine will be level 3.
Already, 11 hospitals have been commissioned and are serving residents.
Gichagi in Kangemi, Mukuru Kwa Rueben, Tassia Kwa Ndege and Our Lady of Nazareth in Mukuru Kwa Njenga were opened in July.
The Uthiru, Kiamaiko, Soweto-Kayole, Ushirika and Green Park hospitals were opened in February.
The NMS had revealed that through savings, they have built three extra hospitals in addition to the 24, which include the Green park dispensary.
On Tuesday, President Uhuru confirmed that he will soon be commissioning some of the remaining 24 hospitals that have been completed.
“We are upgrading various hospitals and very soon we shall be opening various hospitals here in Nairobi to cater for residents in our informal settlements,” he said.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)