A patient at the Coast General Hospital. It is among health facilities
around the country that are set to be equipped with ICU facilities.
PHOTO | FILE
By STELLAR MURUMBA, smurumba@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- The director of medical services said that each of the selected health centres will have six ICUs and three High Dependency Units (HDU).
Patients from selected county hospitals around the
country are going to benefit from 11 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) centres
set to be opened by June next year, the government has said.
In an interview with the Business Daily, director
of medical services Nicholas Muraguri said that the state aims to
provide Kenyans access to uninterrupted, quality healthcare services as
part of a controversial Sh38 billion medical equipment deal.
ALSO READ: Why ministry leased Sh38bn medical equipment
“Under the Managed Equipment Services (MES)
project, 11 Level five hospitals countrywide will be equipped with ICU
facilities. Most of the hospitals that will benefit from the project are
currently not offering ICU services and these centers are expected to
play a critical role in the health care system of this country,” said Dr
Muraguri.
The county hospitals that will benefit from the
programme include those from Machakos, Kakamega, Embu, Meru, Nakuru,
Kisii, Garissa, Nyeri, Thika, Kisumu and the Coast Provincial General
Hospital (PGH).
Dr Muraguri said that each of these centres will
have six ICUs and three High Dependency Units (HDU). They will also be
provided with oxygen generating plants and the full package of required
equipment for functional ICUs and HDUs.
He noted that ICUs cater for patients with life
threatening illnesses and injuries which require constant, close
monitoring and support to ensure normal bodily functions, adding that
the facilities would be staffed by highly trained personnel specialised
in caring for the critically ill.
“The new ICUs that will be spread across the
country will greatly improve access to care to critically ill patients.
This will greatly improve clinical outcomes and reduce mortality and
morbidity of patients requiring this service,” he said.
Dr Muraguri also noted that acute care plays a
vital role in the prevention of death and disability and that ideally,
all hospitals with operating theatres should have an ICU facility of at
least two beds to provide specialized life support services to patients
that undergo major surgical procedures.
The first quarter of the project that ended in
September involved the construction of new ICU rooms in Thika PGH and
Machakos PGH. Kakamega and Nakuru PGH got a facelift of already existing
buildings, he said.
Dr Muraguri also indicated that the second quarter
of the centres will be completed by March and that Coast PGH is
scheduled to close the initiative in June.
“Coast PGH will be our last project in this ICUs
package...the rooms in the first phase have already been set up and
equipped and training of personnel is currently ongoing at the Kenyatta
National Hospital and on site. We are also doing machine testing, after
which they will be ready for use,” he said.
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