The Vihiga government is in the process of acquiring a Sh30 million oxygen plant to curb shortage at Mbale County Referral Hospital.
Health executive Amos Kutwa said on Tuesday the plant will enable the hospital to run its activities successfully without bothering neighbouring counties. Kutwa said the plant is being assembled in France and will be in the country by the end of October.
“The reason we needed that plant was that we are coming up with an ICU, and without sufficient oxygen supply, there will be no use of that ICU,” he told the Star on the phone.
"These small cylinders that the county buys when we are seriously in need of oxygen cannot help us at all.”
Kutwa said an oxygen plant is important for any county hospital to curb life loss, especially in units where patients are on life support.
"The tender for installing it has already been awarded and even the contractor has toured the site," Kutwa said.
"In this current mess of the Covid-19 pandemic, no county wants to admit patients from neighbouring counties. Therefore we need to be on our own and for that to happen we must be well equipped."
The plant will also help the accident and emergency service unit. The county opted to put in place its plant after benchmarking with Kakamega County Referral Hospital where they have installed a Sh28 million oxygen plant.
Kutwa said by 2023 Vihiga will be fully self-reliant on health matters and will not refer patients to neighbouring counties.
