The Mother and Child Hospital at the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital will help reduce maternal and infant mortality rates.
The facility was opened two weeks ago and is a single-speciality hospital that provides maternal and paediatric services.
It will contribute to achieving the Universal Health Coverage goal.
According to statistics, 113 women out of 100,000 died during childbirth in Kisii last year while infant mortality stood at 22 per cent.
Experts attribute this to obstructed labour, hypertension, haemorrhage and infection which are the leading causes of maternal mortality and can be prevented with expert care.
However, Kisii Governor James Ongwae said skilled deliveries have increased to 81 per cent last year, up from 56 per cent in 2017.
“It is worrying to note that only 43 per cent of our expectant women make at least four antenatal care visits before delivery,” Ongwae said on Monday.
The main hospital has a labour ward, newborn unit, caesarian theatre sections, and post-natal and paediatric wards.
Ongwae said these facilities are overwhelmed due to the increasing demand for specialist services in the region.
“Over the past five years, we have witnessed an increasing demand for healthcare services in the Lake region with over 1,800 referrals of mothers and infants received at KTRH in the past four years,” he said.
“The increased referral cases which stretched facilities at KTRH necessitated a one-stop-shop centre for all mother and child health issues.”
The facility will provide specialist care in oncology, gynaecology, paediatrics and obstetrics using evidence-based medicine.
The four-storey complex has three full-fledged theatres dedicated to mother and child health issues, an 80-bed paediatric ward, a newborn ICU, a 20-bed amenity ward, and a research and training centre with modern lecture rooms on the fourth floor.
Over the past nine years, the county government has transformed KTRH through infrastructural and diagnostic equipment upgrades befitting a referral hospital.
The county has built 100-bed capacity hospitals at Marani and Nyamarambe in Kitutu Chache North and South Mogirango subcounties and also built and equipped theatres at various hospitals in Nduru, Ogembo, Gesusu, Nyamache, Kenyenya, Keumbu and Riana.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
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