• Dr George Rae, JOOTRH chief executive officer, on Thursday said the plant can produce 600 litres of oxygen per minute.
• The plant is expected to end an oxygen shortage at hospitals within the region because it will ensure a sufficient supply of the commodity.
The Kisumu county government has installed a Sh51 million oxygen plant at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital to boost Covid-19 management.
Dr George Rae, JOOTRH chief executive officer, on Thursday said the plant can produce 600 litres of oxygen per minute.
The plant is expected to end an oxygen shortage at hospitals within the region because it will ensure a sufficient supply of the commodity.
The JOOTRH will supply other health facilities such as Kombewa, Ahero, Kisumu County Referral and Pap Onditi with the surplus oxygen.
“The installation of the machine is fully complete and operational. It is a very crucial development to our hospitals,” Dr Rae said.
The CEO said the expanded oxygen generation will handle the huge demand for oxygen following the increased number of Covid-19 patients in the region.
The new plant is the highest oxygen generating machine in the region. The old one produced only 250 litres per minute, which was insufficient.
“We will be able to produce more oxygen hence the surplus will be supplied to other health facilities. We will only be using 300 litres in our intensive care units and casualty and give out 200 litres,” Dr Rae added.
Apart from supplying public hospitals, the machine will also serve private hospitals in the county and neighbouring counties.
The bed capacity at JOOTRH stands at 600. Out of that, the county has set up a comprehensive Covid-19 isolation Center with a 120-bed capacity.
The care centre will now be fully equipped with ventilators and an adequate supply of oxygen.
Dr Rae said they were spending Sh1.8 million per week to refill the existing liquid oxygen tank (6,000 litres) at the referral hospital. The new plant will now help them to save money.
The oxygen project is a part of the ongoing modernisation of JOOTRH which includes the building of the comprehensive cancer care centre.
Others facilities include the neurosurgery and sickle-cell anaemia research centres and the doctors' suites. The improvements are aimed at positioning the facility as a premier teaching and referral centre of choice for the region and beyond.
On May 20, Governor Anyang Nyong’o commissioned a biomedical waste shredder at JOOTRH. Nyong’o said the Sh132 million medical microwave shredder will help health facilities in disposing of their waste.
The JOOTRH is the only hospital with a medical incinerator in the county and has been supporting all other health facilities to dispose of their waste.
The governor said the shredder, which can handle three tonnes of infectious medical waste per day, will support all the facilities in the county and replace the old technology of incinerators.
He said medical waste poses a safety risk to residents and its management must be given priority in every hospital within the county.
“To manage that everyday growing demand, it became necessary for the county government to invest in expanding its capacity to respond to the increased demand,” Nyong'o said on Wednesday.
The installation of the multi-million shillings machine follows a partnership between the Ministry of Health and the Government of Belgium.
Kisumu is one of the eight counties that have benefited from the pilot scheme. Other counties include Machakos, Embu, Nyeri, Mombasa, Kisii, Kakamega and Nakuru.
Nyong'o said the investment has come when his administration is enhancing its commitment to handling the disposal of medical waste in health institutions across the county.
"With this technology, I am directing the county Department of Health to come up with regulations that will retire the use of incinerators from facilities in the county," he said.