Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) to build hostel to house cancer patients

Kenyatta National Hospital Chief Executive Officer Lily Koros addressing members of the press. She has said that Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) will build a hostel to house terminally ill patients.(PHOTO.FIDELIS KABUNYI/ STANDARD)

Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) will build a hostel to house terminally ill patients.

KNH Chief Executive Officer Lily Koros made the announcement during a health summit at State House, Nairobi yesterday.

She said though it is not the hospitals' responsibility, they will put up the hostel on humanitarian grounds.

Despite the big number of patients, KNH radiotherapy equipment is said to accommodate just 15 patients a day. "Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are not ideally inpatient services. But since some patients come from far, the idea is that they get accommodation elsewhere, not at the hospital," said Ms Koros.

She continued: "We are already providing them with food. In essence it is not the responsibility of the hospital to provide accommodation too. But we shall be doing so on humanitarian ground."

The hospital came under heavy criticism again after an expose that showed how cancer patients, who had travelled long distance to access treatment, were forced to sleep on the floor and hardly had anything to eat as they waited their turn.

Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopha Mailu acknowledged the mess at KNH, saying it was caused by the overwhelming number of terminally ill patients.

Dr Mailu said this is not new to KNH as the country's health system design encourages movement to tertiary institutions because many primary institutions have been deliberately left undeveloped.