The Anglican Church of Kenya will convert its Maseno Hospital into a teaching and referral institution next year, Maseno North diocese Bishop Simon Oketch has said.
ACK Archbishop Jackson ole Sapit will rededicate the facility to its new status in March. The hospital was started in 1905 as a centre for training assistant midwives by the Church Missionaries Society in collaboration with Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda.
The hospital started by training nurses at certificate level. Today, it offers diploma courses. The hospital enrolled its first nursing students in 1936. In 1988 the certificate nursing course was phased out. In 2005 the hospital started offering diplomas for Kenya Registered Community Health Nurses.
The hospital has since trained 140 KRCHNs so far. Oketch said diploma courses in Nutrition and Clinical Officer courses will start this year. Meanwhile, the prelate will retire on June 30 after steering the diocese for 22 years. He took over in 1995 from Bishop emeritus James Mundia. “I will be handing over to my successor at midnight on June 30 here in the office,” Oketch said.
The diocese clergy has started nominating possible replacement candidates for Oketch. It will interview the applicants before voting takes place. The clergy comprises a priest and two lay readers from each parish in the diocese.
Oketch has built the diocese’s human resource by supporting priests to attain university education.