• Ongwae says plans to set up a Sh150 million mother and child hospital and Sh3 billion cancer centre have been finalised
• Mother and child hospital will have 200 beds; cancer centre will have 40
Image: /FILE
Plans to build a Sh150 million mother and child hospital and a Sh3 billion cancer centre have been finalised, Governor James Ongwae said.
“The mother and child Care hospital will have 200 beds. It will exclusively serve women and children. The cancer centre will have 40 beds,” he told the Star on Monday.
“Once completed, the mother and child facility will significantly reduce maternal and child mortality rates.”
He said architectural designs have been developed.
The cancer centre will occupy 5,000 square metres and will serve as an annex of the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital. It will be equipped with theatres, examination rooms, an observation ward, lecture rooms, X-ray and CT scans.
The 40-bed facility will serve patients from the lake region as well as in Trans Mara, Narok.
Ongwae said the county continues to ensure health services are improved to the required standards. “The allocations to counties are small, and worse still, are done in piecemeal. This continues to hurt development,” the governor said.
He called for increased funding from Treasury, saying the devolved units play a critical role in bringing development to the grassroots.
“We have time and again raised this issue, and we hope the voice of reason will prevail in the clamour by counties to be allocated more,” Ongwae said.
The governor said infrastructure was the worst-hit, owing to the meagre allocations doled out by the national Treasury.
“With little funding, we have a backlog of roads that need to be worked on...we are still asking that something be done,” he said.
The county has earmarked various roads, among them Kiogoro-Gesure-Itibo-Masongo for upgrading to bitumen level.
A similar project is underway on Kisii-Getare road.
Ongwae said they have partnered with Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura), the Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha) and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Kerra) to upgrade roads in the county.
He said construction of the county fire station is ongoing. “Two fire engines are on their way here,” he said.
The county boss said plans are underway to beef up ICT learning among vocational training centres.
The project will be carried out on a partnership basis with Price Hole Technologies Corporations and USAID.