Coast General Hospital’s 19-bed capacity private wing repurposed to Covid-19 isolation unit » Capital News

MOMBASA, Kenya, Mar 16 – Mombasa county government Monday transformed a 19-bed capacity private wing at the Coast Provincial General Hospital (CPGH) into a Covid-19 Isolation Unit.

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho said the county had also trained 24 county health personnel to handle any case of Covid-19, or popularly known as Coronavirus in Mombasa.

Two more level four county health
facilities, Tudor and Mvita hospitals, will also have isolation and treatment
centres.

A tent will also be set outside
the CPGH’s private wing for testing and other services, Joho said.

“We’ve been assessing the
situation across the county, and today we are here to check the level of our
preparedness to handle Covid-19. We are opening an Isolation Unit, which has 19
beds,” said the county chief.

He added that they were to set up
another Isolation Units at Marimani and Mtongwe Hospital in Likoni region, but
it will take quite some time.

“We were contemplating to have
Covid-19 Isolation Unit at Marimani and Mtongwe, but our experts have said it
will take a bit of time. However, we are setting up isolation wards at Mvita
and Tudor level-four hospitals and if need be, we can look at other
facilities,” said Joho.

The Isolation Unit at CPGH has
five wards for extremely severe cases.

Joho said the county was working
with all private hospital within Mombasa County on how to deal with suspected
cases of Covid-19.

“We want all suspected cases to
be handled from a central place. All cases must be handled from our public
facilities, therefore any patient affected with the disease must be brought to
government facilities for quarantine and medication,” he said.

The governor also directed all
County Early Childhood Education Centres (ECDs) to suspend teaching in
accordance with national government directive to have all schools closed.

Joho was at pains to explain why
the county had not deployed its inspectorates and National Youth Service
officers at the Likoni Ferry to ensure all commuters and motorists sanitize
their hands before boarding the ferry.

He said they had a challenge with
the hawkers at the channel on where to set up a hand-washing area.

“We have since been able to ask
the hawkers to move and water pipes are being laid down. I will personally go
there to ensure the facility is in place,” said Joho.