The Health ministry is upgrading Kenyatta National Hospital in an effort to improve the image of the referral facility.
The infrastructure at the hospital, which was constructed more than 100 years ago, has been deteriorating.
The hospital's management has, however, dismissed reports that some deaths have occurred in the accident and emergency departments due to stalled lifts. Management said the lifts may be old but are still working well.
Health PS Susan Mochache said resource mobilisation to improve the image of the largest regional facility has begun, including improving equipment in the cancer treatment centre and theatres.
The hospital will be receiving an upgrade in cancer treatment equipment, including linear accelerators and the purchase of drugs.
“The focus of part of the resource mobilisation for the ministry is upgrading Kenyatta and dealing with the deterioration that has happened,” Mochache said.
“Don’t we need somebody to do some check and perhaps rewire the whole place? How is the plumbing system? I sometimes sympathise with the state of the theatres and that is why whenever we get equipment the first place I think about is the national referral hospital.”
The situation has been blamed on the huge financial burden the hospital has to shoulder from patients who are unable to pay their medical bills.
As a result, the hospital has to offer bill waivers.
In 2019, for instance, the hospital released 300 patients from the wards after the ministry ordered the facility to make credit arrangements with them.
“With the number of waivers that the hospital offers, they do not have enough money for their own capital investments. The money they have barely makes it for operations, so it is just to say that we are alive to the situation here,” Mochache said.
Currently, salaries are shouldered entirely by the government.
KNH was founded in 1901 with a bed capacity of 40. It currently employs more than 6,000 staff and has 1,800 beds.
CEO Evanson Kamuri said a lot of work in changing the facility has been going on for the past few years.
“For the last two years, KNH has really changed the infrastructure. This year alone, we have received more than Sh1 billion for equipment. Even when you hear doctors complaining, we have modern equipment,” Kamuri said.
“We may still look dry outside, but inside we are really changed.”
Edited by A.N
