Mathare-Korogocho Hospital to open its doors this month

Director-General of Nairobi Metropolitan Services Maj-Gen Mohammed Badi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By COLLINS OMULO
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Summary

• Mathare-Korogocho Level 5 Hospital will finally open its doors to patients before end of the month, Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) has said.
• The commissioning of the Sh400 million refurbished hospital located in Mathare North has been delayed for more than a month.

Mathare-Korogocho Level 5 Hospital will finally open its doors to patients before end of the month, Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) has said.

The commissioning of the Sh400 million refurbished hospital located in Mathare North has been delayed for more than a month.

NMS Health Services Director Dr Ouma Oluga said the delay was occasioned by testing of equipment that was being carried out to ensure all are in working condition.

“There have been a few delays as we have carrying out tests including pressure test, water testing, electricity connection, and generator testing which had to take two weeks to complete. These are not things that you do in a rush. You don’t want to open the hospital and get some things are not working,” said Dr Oluga.

The 350-bed hospital has in-patient wards, 24-hour pharmacy, kidney dialysis centre, an intensive care unit, burns unit and theatres.

The hospital, the first level 5 health facility in Nairobi, will also offer renal dialysis, radiology services, tuberculosis management, mortuary and autopsy services, pathology, chemotherapy and forensic services.

Construction of the facility started in the early 1990s but was grounded. However, NMS was last year charged with reviving its completion.

NMS this year recruited 1,691 health staff for deployment across the 24 new hospitals being put up in slums with Mathare-Korogocho being one of the facilities. The recruits comprised 679 nurses with the rest being doctors and clinical officers.

Monday last week, the Badi-led administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) to have the university’s students pursuing medical courses undertake their practical studies at the hospital.

Dr Oluga said the five-storey building hospital is expected to reduce the patient load at Mama Lucy Hospital which serves more than 2.1 million Eastlands area.

The hospital will dedicate an entire floor to attend to boda boda riders injured while going about their business.

Level 5 health facilities, also known as county referral hospitals, should have more than 100-bed capacities. They are run by chief executive officers who must be medical doctors.

Such facilities handle more than 250 patients daily and have capacity to manage medical, paediatric, surgical and gynaecological in-patients.