Uhuru opens five new hospitals in plan decongest KNH
The government’s plan to decongest key hospitals in Nairobi is gathering steam after President Uhuru Kenyatta opened five new hospitals in the outskirts of the capital.
The health care centers commissioned on Tuesday night include two level two hospitals at Gichagi, in Kangemi and Gatina in Kawangware.
Further, the President opened level 3 hospitals in Mukuru Kwa Rueben, Tassia Kwa Ndege and Our Lady of Nazareth in Mukuru Kwa Njenga.
Mr Kenyatta, who was accompanied by NMS Director-General Mohammed Badi and senior Government officials, directed public hospitals in Nairobi to offer 24-hour services to ensure city residents can access services round-the-clock.
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“The dispensaries and level 2 health facilities should operate 24 hours services in order to decongest Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and Mama Lucy Hospital. Instead of someone using money to go and seek medical services at KNH, they need to access these services at the facilities which are near them,” he said.
Addressing journalists at State House, Nairobi after the exercise, the President said he chose to commission the new hospitals at night so as to adhere to Covid-19 containment protocols.
The Head of State said the operation was also aimed at enabling him assess the population of city residents, especially those in informal settlements where the hospitals are located, seeking healthcare at night so as to enable the Government to resource them adequately.
“We also discovered that Nairobi hospitals open at 8am and were closing at 6pm. Meaning that if somebody got sick or was in need of medical attention after 6pm the only medical facility they could access was KNH.”
He announced that 19 out of the 24 new hospitals being constructed by NMS were complete saying, plans were underway to adequately resource them for 24-hour operations.
President Kenyatta noted that the final phase of the city’s transformational plan is the issuance of title deeds to residents who own land so as to empower them to own decent housing.
