- The Hospital Board Chair Mercy Mwangangi who was in the company of the CEO Christine Kiteshuo disclosed that the hospital currently serves 335,000 people.
- Areas served include Pumwani, Kamukunji, Starehe, Kayole, Dandora, Huruma, Juja Road, Pangani, Shauri Moyo, Jericho, and Eastleigh.
Image: MARGARET ACHIENG'
The Pumwani Maternity Hospital Board and Management on Wednesday unpacked the State of the affairs in the largest facility that offers Mother and Child services in and in sub-Saharan Africa
The hospital which was started 97 years ago by a charitable organization called Lady Grigg Welfare League and named Lady Grigg Maternity, now falls under the jurisdiction of Nairobi City County
The Hospital Board Chair Mercy Mwangangi who was in the company of the CEO Christine Kiteshuo disclosed that the hospital currently serves 335,000 people.
Areas served include Pumwani, Kamukunji, Starehe, Kayole, Dandora, Huruma, Juja Road, Pangani, Shauri Moyo, Jericho, and Eastleigh.
Mwangangi said the hospital has made tremendous progress over the last year to ensure mother and child care is delivered in the most professional manner
"The hospital now has 354 obstetrics beds, 144 baby cots and 2 theatres," Mwangangi said.
"Daily normal deliveries being 50-100 and caesarean sections are 10-15."
CEO Kiteshuo revealed that in the hospital in January and September 2023, Pumwani admitted about 15,000 women for delivery with an average of about 1,600 per month.
She said that the hospital recorded 14,000 successful deliveries, representing a 93.3 per cent success rate.
Of the deliveries, the CEO said 70 per cent of them were normal while 30 per cent were through CS.
"The new county government under Governor Johnson Shakaja has instituted governance, which has seen, forthe first time, the hospital having a Chief Executive Officer supported by a new board to enhance service delivery," she said.
"The hospital is revamping its newborn unit to ensure services offered are at par with those of middle private hospitals."
According to the CEO during the period between January -September 2023, only 7 maternal deaths were recorded out of nearly 15,000 admissions representing 0.04 percent.
She further stated the neonatal deaths were 328 against 14,123 births representing a 2.3 percent rate against a national rate 2.1 percent.
Mwangangi said the hospital is now working towards ensuring that neonatal deaths are reduced.
This, she said, is by encouraging mothers to diligently seek antenatal care services bearing in mind that the leading cause of neonatal deaths is premature births.
"This means the facility is underutilized and many mothers only come to deliver when they can access so many other services at affordable rates," she said.
Mwangangi said the hospital is now embarking on a campaign dubbed “Pumwani Kwa Ground”.
This campaign is to sensitize key stakeholders in the catchment area to the ongoing positive changes at the facility, and why residents should take advantage of them.
"Besides delivery, the hospital now offers a wide range of other mother and child services that include physiotherapy, orthopaedic, occupational therapy, VCT, pediatric clinic, radiology, laboratory, and pharmacy which residents in the catchment area are encouraged to use."
Mwangangi said the hospital has also been able to acquire an electric lift which has been of great help to mothers having difficulties.
The Board chair added that the facility had no case of child theft in the last year.
This, she said, can be attributed to enhanced security and patient support initiated to ensure issues like child theft or swapping are a thing of the past.