President Uhuru Kenyatta has unveiled three State-of-the-art health centres at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), built and equipped at a cost of Kes1 billion.

Zarina Merali Surgical Daycare Centre; the Centre for Kidney Disease and Organ Transplantation; and Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Laboratory, were developed using a mix of government funds and donations from development partners, and philanthropists led by Zarina Merali Foundation.

President Kenyatta noted that the investment demonstrates the vast improvements in Kenya’s healthcare system achieved during his tenure.

“Additionally, this event demonstrates a genuine desire to bequeath current and future generations of Kenyans, with world-class facilities that deliver superlative health services for all,” the President said.

The new Centre for Kidney Disease and Organ Transplantation will enhance KNH's ‘Interlife’ programme, whose objective is to enhance kidney transplantation services in the country.

He disclosed that KNH had successfully performed over 200 kidney transplants under the interlife programme, adding that the new facility will further cement the referral hospital's standing as a regional centre of excellence in the management of kidney diseases in East Africa.

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The Zarina Merali Daycare Centre will facilitate outpatient surgeries or same-day surgeries for KNH patients. These are surgeries that do not require hospitalization before and after an operation.

The project is expected to minimize hospital-acquired infections and reduce congestion in the wards for better management of inpatients, as well as offloading part of the cost of surgery.

On KNH's new Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Laboratory, the first of its kind in East Africa, the President said the facility will greatly support organ and tissue transplants by conducting donor and recipient matching locally.

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