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Pumwani Maternity Hospital is undergoing expansion to enable it handle other clients besides expectant mothers.
The hospital’s administration said the decision to transform the hospital was informed by the rising number of patients seeking treatment at the facility.
Pumwani’s Deputy Medical Superintendent Beth Maina said some of the cases received at the facility were simple to handle, and therefore it would be unfair to refer the patients to other facilities.
“We get patients who are asthmatic and we end up treating them. There is no need of referring them to Mama Lucy,” said Dr Maina.
Maina said the facility is already providing immunisation clinics, rehabilitation services, HIV and Aids treatment, family planning and Gender Based Violence (GBV) cases through its outpatient services.
The outpatient services were unveiled in February this year.
Pumwani is building a high dependency unit and an intensive care unit. It is also in the process of operationalising its second theatre.
“At the moment, all the critical cases we get have to be referred to Kenyatta National Hospital. Sometimes babies are born prematurely and lack of these services compromises their chances of survival. But you understand we also have an influx of patients from other (lower tier) facilities,” said Maina.
In 2014, the hospital had 9,000 deliveries and the number doubled in 2018 to 18,000.
The hospital's administrator Geoffrey Mosire said the facility grapples with staff shortages.
Nairobi Health Executive Charles Kerich said the only solution to the challenges facing Pumwani and other county facilities was to set aside more funds.
“Health takes the biggest chunk of our budget at 23 per cent. But we can do more. We know of businesses in town which do not pay debts owed to the county and we will go after them,” said Mr Mosire.
Kerich said while it was good to expand services at Pumwani, it was important to decongest the facility by upgrading nearby health centres.
Last year, Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko revealed plans were under way to set up a 10-storey "Sonko Pumwani Women’s Hospital and College of Nursing and Midwifery".
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