India's Apollo hospitals to set up cancer centre in Kakamega, says Savula

Kakamega will partner with the Apollo hospitals in India to set up a cancer centre at the Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital.

Deputy Governor Ayub Savula said once established, the cancer centre will serve not only Kakamega residents, but the entire former Western province, the lake region and beyond.

“We have as a county government negotiated with Apollo hospitals and invited them for a meeting. The partnership we have negotiated will go through public participation for residents to approve,” he said.

Savula said that Apollo is one of the best hospitals in the world in cancer management and treatment. 

He said that the centre will save people from the region from travelling to either to other facilities in the country or India for cancer treatment.

Savula was speaking in Libinu, Mumias East subcounty, on Monday.

Construction of the Sh6 billion, 750-bed Kakamega referral hospital has stalled. 

Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa said the county is looking for investors to help in its completion and operationalisation through public private partnership.

The Apollo hospital and the CG group from India are among investors who have shown interest in the partnership to complete the facility.

Savula said health was top on Governor Barasa’s six-point agenda to transform Kakamega county. The county spends 30 per cent of its annual budget on health services.

Currently, residents of the former larger Western province have to travel to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga teaching and referral hospital in Kisumu or Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi for specialised treatment.

The county has commenced a countywide distribution of drugs and inspection of all the health facilities. Drugs worth Sh130 million have been distributed in the first phase.

The county has also installed a new oxygen plant at the county referral hospital with a capacity to produce up to 1,300 litres of oxygen per minute sufficient for all health facilities in the devolved unit.

The county government has also procured an Integrated Health Management System to facilitate efficiency and effectiveness in all health facilities.

It has also commissioned a new maternity ward at Malava Level 4 Hospital increasing the capacity from 19 to 39 maternity beds at the facility in the last six months.