•At Sh2 billion, NMS was to set up the hospitals in Viwandani, Majengo, Mathare, Kayole, Soweto, Korogocho, Kawangware, Gitare Marigu, Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Mukuru Kwa Reuben, Kibera and Githurai 44.
•Nineteen out of the 24 health facilities would be built from scratch each at Sh70 million while the rest (five) would be rehabilitated for Sh300 million.
Health has always been allocated the lion's share over the years in the Nairobi county budget.
Yet access to health care had remained a challenge to city residents, especially from the informal settlements.
Until February last year, Nairobi’s healthcare system had been plagued by high costs for patient care, weak technical awareness of the patients, low drug availability and inadequate staff.
A study by the African Population and Health Research Centre in 2002 revealed that there have been limited public health facilities in the slums of Nairobi.
Out of the then 125 health facilities serving the four biggest slum settlements in the county, only four were public, 106 were private for-profit and 15 were private not-for-profit.
This painted a grim picture that Kenya’s capital lacked accessible public hospitals, leaving residents in the hands of private health facilities which force them to dig deeper into their pockets.
A night visit by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Nairobi Metropolitan Services director general Mohammed Badi in July 2020, changed the game for the health access for residents in slums.
Uhuru dressed in unrecognised attire witnessed an expectant mother being turned away from a clinic with a seven-bed capacity.
With a vision to have accessible and affordable healthcare in slums, Uhuru directed NMS to construct 24 hospitals.
At Sh2 billion, NMS was to set up the hospitals in Viwandani, Majengo, Mathare, Kayole, Soweto, Korogocho, Kawangware, Gitare Marigu, Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Mukuru Kwa Reuben, Kibera and Githurai 44.
Nineteen out of the 24 health facilities would be built from scratch each at Sh70 million while the rest (five) would be rehabilitated for Sh300 million.
Ten out of the facilities to be built entirely will be Level 2 hospitals and the rest will be Level 3.
The number however changed to 28 after more consultation in 2021.
Between February and October 2021, Uhuru has commissioned 14 Level 2 and 3 hospitals to ensure a population of 3.1 million people living in informal settlements access quality and affordable health services.
For the first time, it has been noted that walk-in patients have reduced in KNH and Mama Lucy Hospitals.
A Level 2 health facility is also known as a dispensary and is run by clinical officers while a Level 3 facility is referred to as a health centre and is run by at least one doctor, clinical officers and nurses.
These hospitals include Gichagi in Kangemi, Mukuru Kwa Reuben, Tassia Kwa Ndege and Our Lady of Nazareth in Mukuru Kwa Njenga, which were opened in July.
The Uthiru, Kiamaiko, Soweto-Kayole, Ushirika and Green Park hospitals were opened in February.
The President said this move will ensure city residents access health services whenever they need them as well as decongest the Kenyatta National Hospital and Mama Lucy Hospital in the process.
“Instead of someone using money to go and seek medical services at Kenyatta National Hospital, they need to access these services at the facilities which are near them,” he said.
However, lack of free land was cited as the main challenge encountered by NMS while attempting to construct the hospitals in informal settlements.
Badi had earlier said there was barely any space in the informal settlements which was a setback in the project.
As a result, some hospitals have been set up in schools, police stations and county administrative offices.
The President commissioned the 15th hospital, Mathare-Korogocho Level 5 Hospital which was renamed Mama Margaret Kenyatta Hospital.
The Sh400 million five-storey hospital will reduce the patient load at Mama Lucy Hospital, which serves more than 2.1 million people in the Eastlands area.
On Tuesday, the number of commissioned hospitals rose to 17 after Uhuru commissioned Mihang'o Level 3 hospital in Embakasi East and the Mwiki Health Centre in Kasarani.
Data from the NMS health directorate showed that at least 131,808 patients have been attended to at the 13 newly-opened hospitals.
The hospitals include Muthua-Uthiru, Kiamaiko and Kayole-Soweto, Gatina, Gichagi, Green Park, Kianda 42 Community, Ngomongo, Ngundu, Njenga, Reuben and Zimmerman Pickens.
Badi said the achievements were impressive.
“NMS takes great pride in the work done to address gaps in the healthcare system and continues to concert efforts with all stakeholders to achieve the sector’s highest aspirations,” Badi said.
However, the biggest challenge these facilities faced was the lack of basic drugs.
Early this year, NMS admitted the hospitals lacked some medication because they had been relying on donations.
Badi said the availability of drugs in health facilities depended on several factors including budget access.
“Availability and adequacy of medicines are a daily occurrence that is dictated by the number of patients served, healthcare finance and budget access, availability of physical infrastructure and workforce,” he said.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris