County to open maternity wing, build 4 new hospitals

The Sh700 million Githunguri Level 4 Hospital in its latest state. Kiambu County is pumping money into the construction of health facilities. [Kamau Maichuhie, Standard]

Kiambu County Government will soon be opening a new 400-bed reproductive health wing at the Thika Level 5 hospital.

The reproductive health wing, whose construction cost Sh700 million, is expected to boost services for locals.

The county administration hopes the new facility will help reduce infant and maternal mortality ratios and also offer affordable maternity services.

The maternity wing is part of the county’s grand development plan in the health sector.

The county administration has battled accusations of lack of proper health facilities, with the few that are available being congested and lacking drugs.

Four more

Besides commissioning the new wing, the county plans to construct four other Level 4 hospitals, according to Governor Ferdinand Waititu.

Among the facilities under construction are a Sh700 million Githunguri Level 4 Hospital, which is set to have 250 bed capacity.

The hospital is expected to lead in cancer treatment.

Bibirioni Level 4 Hospital in Limuru is also being constructed at a cost of Sh280 million.

Expansion of Lari, Tigoni, Wangige and Kikuyu Level 4 hospitals are in the pipeline.

“Once complete, these facilities will see bed capacity increase from the current 1,100 to 3,500. As a county, we are determined to make Kiambu the destination for medical tourism,” said Waititu.

The governor added that his administration will continue to invest heavily in the rehabilitation of hospitals, to ensure they are capable of delivering world-class services.

County goals

“Our objectives as a county is to work in line with the Global Sustainable Development Goals, the country’s Big Four agenda, Vision 2030 and our County Integrated Development plan,” Waititu said.

The county government recently commissioned the second Renal Dialysis Unit at Gatundu Level 5 Hospital.

The unit has been equipped with five dialysis machines and can handle 10 patients daily. All they need is to present National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) cards.

There is also another renal unit at Thika level 5 hospital.  It has a capacity to serve six kidney patients daily.

Plans are also underway to open a new renal unit at Kiambu Level 5 hospital.

A modern CT scan was also installed at Thika Level 5 hospital in 2018.

In December last year, Waititu signed an agreement with MSF-Belgium for the construction of a Medical Assessment Therapy Clinic at Kariru Level four hospital in Kiambaa constituency.

Addicted youths

The ground breaking for the construction of the clinic was held last month. The clinic will provide free comprehensive medical services for youth facing drug addiction.

MSF-Belogium is putting up the clinic at a cost of Sh 50 million. It will provide rehabilitation care for over 1500 drug addicts.

Waititu added that to alleviate congestion in the county hospitals, his administration will hire an additional 100 nurses and 25 doctors.

“Because of their location, hospitals in Kiambu and Thika will always have an influx of patients from neighboring counties,”said Waititu.

“In Kiambu we look forward to satisfying health services demand at the county level and also in the surrounding counties.”

County Health Executive Mary Kamau said the department is working hard to make universal health coverage a reality.

This is by strengthening primary health care.

“We are doing our best and all we are asking for support from all  stakeholders including the national Government in order to make universal health coverage in Kiambu a reality,” said Ms Kamau.

The county has 107 public health facilities, including three Level 5 hospitals namely Thika, Kiambu and  Gatundu hospitals.

There are 11 Level 4 hospitals.

The health department has 3,000 staff, including 1,250 nurses and 300 doctors, who include 50 specialists.

1.9 million residents

They serve a population of 1.9 million residents. Added to patients from Nairobi, Murang’a, Machakos and Kajiado, the number, according to the county, can get to 5 million.

According to the county health department, the daily outpatient attendance is 10,000 and the bed occupancy rate is between 150 and 200 per cent.

In agriculture, dairy farmers in the county are getting free artificial insemination (AI) services offered by the county government.

The free AI programme was launched by Mr Waititu two weeks ago.

Bad roads

Speaking during the launch, Waititu said with 250,000 cows in the county, the dairy sector produced milk worth more than Sh10 billion annually.

“The free AI programme will help improve the dairy breeds, which will in turn increase production and farmers’ income. The project targets to increase the annual number of insemination to 40,000,” Waititu said.

To fix the bad state of the many roads in the county, Waititu’s administration has adopted a new technology to fast-track road upgrading. 

Pure Crete technology eliminates the use of cement in road construction, and will be used to upgrade at least 10 roads.

Pure Crete is a non-bacterial concentrated formulation that alters the properties of earth materials, providing one of the most cost effective methods to stabilise roads, seal ponds and landfills.

Among areas earmarked to benefit from road construction using the new technology are Lari, Githunguri and Gatundu North constituencies.

Waititu has said his administration was keen to ensure all dilapidated roads were fixed.

Already, Kiambia-Gathanga road has been upgraded using the new technology.

The road was constructed at a cost of Sh60 million.