Kapsabet County Referral Hospital will no longer buy oxygen following completion of a Sh15m plant at the facility.
Nandi county chief officer for health Paul Lagat said the new plant will enable the hospital manufacture its own oxygen which will be supplied to other health facilities.
He said ambulances will be fitted with oxygen facilities now that they have their own manufacturing plant.
“This will cut cost of buying it by 99 per cent after the commissioning of the plant at the Kapsabet Referral Hospital,” Lagat said.
Speaking after inspection of the facility, Lagat said 10 more new ambulances are to be delivered before next month, bought at Sh50 million.
“The eight Land Cruisers we have are not enough. The demand is very high due to improved health care across the county facilities which has encouraged more people to seek services,” Lagat said.
The ambulances will be deployed in all the six subcounty hospitals because of the hilly terrain in most of the rural areas.
The new Toyota mini-bus ambulances will be stationed in facilities that are not far from the tarmac and in regions with better roads.
“We have had few referrals to national facilities after the county increased the number of specialists and doctors in the rural health facilities," Langat said.
He said in the 2019-2020 budget, they have proposed for increase of allocation to hire more nurses.
