The Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) is set to commission 12 hospitals which are part of 24 hospitals being put up by the Major General Mohamed Badi-led administration in the lower-income residential areas.
The Major General revealed the report and said that the hospitals have been fully equipped and ready for opening just by President Uhuru Kenyatta. Four out of them are already operational.ยญยญ The health facilities, both Level 2 and 3 hospitals are in Uthiru, Kiamaiko, Ushirika and Soweto-Kayole.
“A total of 12 of the new hospitals are ready for commissioning. We are hoping in the next two weeks His Excellency the President will give us guidance on opening them,” said Mr Badi.
Two more, Gatina hospital in Kawangware and Gichagi in Kangemi, are also in operation although they have not been commissioned while the remaining eight hospitals are at an advanced stage of construction and will be complete by the first week of July.
Reducing walk-in patients burden
The new hospitals are aimed at reducing walk-in patients’ burden on Kenyatta National Hospital, Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, Pumwani and Mbagathi Hospitals. ย Maj-Gen Badi explained that all 24 hospitals were to be operational by the end month of this month but certain challenges encountered by NMS, such as the acquisition of land in the informal settlements, has dragged the process but he is optimistic that all will be ready July.
In readiness for the opening of the new hospitals, NMS had recruited employed 2,000 healthcare workers among them 44 specialists, 679 nurses, 130 doctors to ensure that human resource is not the barrier to effective service delivery in all the 24 new hospitals and as well as two other main hospitals; Korogocho and Mama Lucy Hospitals Level 5 Hospitals.
NMS received Sh2 billion for the construction of the new hospitals in various informal settlements across Nairobi including Viwandani, Majengo, Mathare, Kayole, Soweto, Korogocho, Kawangware, Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Mukuru Kwa Reuben, Kibera and Githurai 44. The project involved building 19 hospitals from scratch, where 10 were to be Level 2 facilities and the rest Level 3, while five more were to be rehabilitated at a cost of Sh300 million.
