Nairobi Hospital Overwhelmed by Covid-19 Patients

The Nairobi Hospital has been overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients even as the country continues to register increased cases of the virus.

The hospital’s CEO Allan Pamba said the facility cannot admit more Covid-19 patients since its isolation center is filled to capacity.

Pamba indicated that a total of 162 Covid-19 sufferers are presently undergoing treatment at the hospital, out of which 22 are in the intensive care unit (ICU).

 “Over this past weekend, the management faced a big challenge to stretch the hospital’s capacity to accommodate a sudden rise in cases presenting at the Accident and Emergency department with suspected Covid-19,” said Pamba.

He noted that plans are underway, in partnership with the United Nations (UN), to set up a new 150-bed facility to hold more patients.

“With this rising challenge, we are hopeful that the hospital board will support the next phase of the TNH-UN Covid-19 care partnership. This will give us a 150-bed state of the art Coronavirus hospital at the old nursing school,” he said.

The new facility will boast a 25-bed ICU center with “ECMO capacity and its own operating theater.”

On Thursday, the Health Ministry confirmed a record 447 new cases of Covid-19, raising the total number of infections in the country to 8,975.

The tally of recoveries jumped to 2,657 while the death toll from the virus increased to 173.