The Kisumu county government is building a Sh248 million paediatric hospital in Kombewa, Seme constituency.
The facility will be funded by Novartis at Sh168 million, while the county government will spend Sh80 million to equip and stock the facility.
Construction is expected to be completed in 18 months.
The facility will have a general paediatric ward, an isolation room, a high dependency unit, incubator nursery isolation ward, incubator nursery ward, playroom for children, beds for mothers with children and a research ward.
The building will have two floors and will also offer outpatient services. The Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) and Seme CDF are also partners in the project.
Governor Nyong’o said Kisumu has a high burden of infectious diseases and high maternal and child mortality.
“HIV prevalence is at 16.3 per cent, 595 women die during childbirth for every 100,000 live births and 79 out of every 1,000 children die before their fifth birthday,” the county chief said.
The Kisumu administration is taking steps to address these adverse indicators, he said.
“The implementation of the UHC is part of our efforts to ensure our population is healthy. We are in the process of equipping our health facilities to ensure each of our seven sub-counties has a fully functional comprehensive emergency obstetric and neonatal facilities,” he said.
The paediatric hospital will go a long way in helping the county to achieve this goal.
Nyong’o said most of Kisumu residents have been made poorer over the years because of high healthcare costs.
“Every year, households have been paying up to Sh1.4 billion to access healthcare. It is against this background that the Kisumu government has prioritised UHC,” he said.
To achieve UHC, the governor said they had chosen to strengthen preventive and primary healthcare.
The building will have two floors and will also offer outpatient services. The Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) and Seme CDF are also partners in the project.
Governor Nyong’o said Kisumu has a high burden of infectious diseases and high maternal and child mortality.
“HIV prevalence is at 16.3 per cent, 595 women die during childbirth for every 100,000 live births and 79 out of every 1,000 children die before their fifth birthday,” the county chief said.
The Kisumu administration is taking steps to address these adverse indicators, he said.
“The implementation of the UHC is part of our efforts to ensure our population is healthy. We are in the process of equipping our health facilities to ensure each of our seven sub-counties has a fully functional comprehensive emergency obstetric and neonatal facilities,” he said.
The paediatric hospital will go a long way in helping the county to achieve this goal.
Nyong’o said most of Kisumu residents have been made poorer over the years because of high healthcare costs.
“Every year, households have been paying up to Sh1.4 billion to access healthcare. It is against this background that the Kisumu government has prioritised UHC,” he said.
To achieve UHC, the governor said they had chosen to strengthen preventive and primary healthcare.
Edited by Otieno Owino
