Nairobi Hospital Covid-19 facility opens in two weeks

The Covid-19 facility at the Nairobi Hospital for UN Africa workers will be opening its doors in two weeks, the management has said.

The opening of the facility is aimed at boosting capacity to handle Covid-19 patients.

In a statement, the hospital’s acting Chief Executive Officer Margaret Sirima said all Covid-19 patients will be managed at the dedicated facility that comes with top of the range respiratory diseases management technology.

The UN entered into a partnership with the hospital in July to set up a Covid treatment facility in Nairobi to cater for the global organisation’s workers and family members in Africa.

The facility has 20 ICU beds, 45 HDU beds, 85 general hospital beds, infectious diseases triage, Dedicated Operating Theater Suite and Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO)-Heart-Lung machine.

It will also offer laboratory services, radiology services, medical isolation facilities, body handling facilities, logistics warehouse, teleconference/Telemedicine facilities and staff rest areas.

The facility is expected to take care of over 20,000 UN staff and families based in Kenya, Africa and beyond as well as Kenyans.

“The operationalization of the dedicated Covid-19 management facility will take our two in one hospital model to the next level and give Kenya international capacity,” Sirima said.

 She added: “We have been running the two in one hospital model at the main hospital. We will now handle our Covid-19 patients at the new facility across the road. Our regular patients will be treated at the main hospital.”

Sirima said the hospital has sufficient capacity to manage Covid-19 patients in the event of a resurgence.

Last month, the hospital added four more wards to handle Covid-19 patients amid rising numbers of infections in the country.

“We have capacity to scale up really quick if the need arises. No patient will be turned away on account of lack of Covid-19 management capacity,” she said.

The UN has its headquarters in Nairobi with more than 3,000 workers. It has other offices in Addis Ababa Ethiopia and several peacemaking missions with more than 70,000 as of March.

Besides helping finance the facility, the UN will provide specialized equipment that is in short supply globally and may not be easily available in Kenya.

“The new facility will reduce the burden of caring for Covid positive UN personnel and partners on the Kenyan healthcare system,” UN Nairobi Office Director General Zainab Bangura said.