Health care in Kisii is expected to be of the highest standard with the launch of the latest facilities at the county’s teaching and referral hospital by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Kenyatta told Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital management to prioritise services over other interests. “We expect you to give proper health care services because the hospital is among the health facilities with modern equipment. There should be no excuse at all,” he said.
Governor James Ongwae responded: “The new facilities that you have unveiled today here at the hospital will radically improve the quality of service and infrastructure for patients and staff both now and in the years to come.”
90-year-old morgue
Among the items the President launched on Wednesday was Computerised Tomography (CT) Scan equipment to serve the county and its neighbourhood.
Residents will be saved the hustles of travelling to either Nairobi or out of the country for X-Ray and other scans. The President also launched a 250 male ward to decongest the facility whose bed occupancy is 110 per cent daily.
He also launched a 100-bed capacity mortuary with histology and anatomy laboratories for the new Kisii University School of Medicine.
The school was recently given accreditation by Prof George Magoha, the board chairman of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Association.
The current morgue was built 90 years ago and handles 24 bodies. The new one has a state-of-the-art cooling facility, a separate funeral parlour and parking for 100 vehicles.
The President also opened a doctor’s hostel block with 50 units to be used by interns and visiting doctors on exchange programmes.
A medical waste incinerator to take care of hazardous waste from KTRH and neighbouring hospitals was also opened.
Kenyatta also presided over the ground breaking ceremony of the Cancer Diagnostic and Treatment Centre and a new Mother and Child Health Facility.
cancer diagnosis
Health CS Sicily Kariuki said the launch of “sophisticated” CT scan machines was a big boost in achievement of Universal Health Coverage.
The cancer project will serve Nyanza and Western regions.
The cancer Centre has fully equipped theatres, examination rooms, mammograms, an observation ward, waiting rooms, lecture rooms, a control room, two shielded rooms for X-Ray, CT scanner, changing rooms for doctors and staff and patient wards with 40 beds.
Ongwae said only Kenyatta National Hospital and Eldoret Referral Hospital offered cancer diagnostic and treatment services. The two are overstretched. The President reiterated the government’s commitment to taking specialised treatment closer to the people.
Kisii’s is the second CT scan centre he has unveiled after the inauguration of a similar one at Kakamega County Referral Hospital last year.
Deputy President William Ruto unveiled a similar scan centre at Longisa County Referral Hospital in Bomet county and directed that it will be operational in nine days.
The facility offers X-Ray, cloud imaging and other specialised scans. The results are transmitted to the Kenyatta National Hospital central database and interfaced to all CT Scan facilities eliminating the need for patients to carry scan files since their images are stored in the cloud.
universal healthcare
In Busia County Referral Hospital (BCRH) installation of a Computerised Tomography (CT) Scan is almost complete and will be ready for use by end of next month.
So far, the government has installed CT Scan machines in close to twenty counties out of the total 37 selected under the Universal Health Coverage programme.
Other counties already fitted with the scans include King Fahad Hospital in Lamu county, Kakamega County Referral Hospital, Thika Level Five Hospital, Iten County Referral Hospital (Elgeyo Marakwet County), Narok County Referral Hospital and Voi Level Five Hospital (Taita Taveta county).
The KNH national data center will serve as a center of excellence in a two storey building with ground floor housing CT machines and other supportive equipment while radiologists will be accommodate on the second floor interfaced with counties in interpreting TC and MRI images.