Kirinyaga County commissions Sh14.2m oxygen plant

The Kirinyaga County government has commissioned a Sh14.2 million oxygen manufacturing plant at Kerugoya Level Five Hospital.

The plant will supply the gas to all the hospital’s wards and three theatres. One of the theatres is located at the maternity ward.

While commissioning the plant on Monday, Governor Joseph Ndathi said all health facilities, both public and private, would get their oxygen from the plant.

Subsidised prices

Private facilities, he said, would buy the oxygen at subsidised prices.

“The county has been spending Sh6 million every year buying the gas from Nairobi. This is now behind us. The newly installed plant will even generate income for the hospital,” he said.

The hospital has also installed laundry machines to wash and dry linen.

The governor also opened a mortuary with the capacity to store 40 bodies. The hospital’s mortuary has been dysfunctional for the past 10 years.

“For the past 10 years, residents of this county who lose their loved ones have been painfully transporting the bodies to either Karatina, Murang’a, Embu, or the three private mortuaries in the area, but this is now water under the bridge,” he said.

He added that the county spends over Sh1.1 billion on health.

Health care services

“As at today, we have 84 medical doctors, among them surgeons, consultants, and general medical practitioners. Budgetary allocations allowing, we want to hire more until we have 100 for effective health care services for the residents,’’ Ndathi said, adding that when he came to office in 2013 there were only 13 doctors in the county.

Ndathi has cautioned medics employed by the county government against setting up private clinics.

‘’You are either in public service or private practice otherwise you will certainly be shown the door for no one can serve two masters at the same time,” he warned.

He also inspected the hospital’s drug store, where a consignment worth Sh80 million is stored, and announced that the budget for medicines will be increased to Sh100 million in the next financial year.