Corporate News
Doctors consultation facility at the Nairobi Hospital. PHOTO | FILE
By KIARIE NJOROGE, gkiarie@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
Nairobi Hospital has launched a Sh5.7 billion
expansion plan that will see it double bed capacity and clinic
facilities in a bid to keep pace with rivals that have recently enlarged
their capacity.
Regulatory filings by the hospital indicate it is looking to
put up several buildings that will house clinical facilities and raise
capacity from the current 355 to 750 beds, set up a parking silo and a
university education block.
“The proponent proposes to expand the capacity of
the hospital to make quality healthcare more accessible in the region,”
says an audit submitted to the National Environment Management
Authority.
Premium medical facilities in Nairobi have launched
similar plans to absorb the growing number of patients seeking better
healthcare.
Two months ago, MP Shah Hospital received Sh1
billion ($10 million) from the International Finance Corporation (IFC)
to boost its ongoing upgrade to meet growing demand.
MP Shah will use the funds from the World Bank’s
private lending arm to build a six-storey building to house new oncology
and physiotherapy clinics and surgical wards.
The new wing is expected to be fully operational by
the end of next year. Its 96 new beds will raise the hospital’s total
capacity to 306.
Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital in 2013 invested
Sh500 million in setting up a new building at its Muthaiga branch,
raising its bed capacity to 103 from the previous 83.
“The demand for the services provided by the
hospital in the recent past has begun to outstrip some of the existing
physical capacity as evidenced by outpatient numbers, inpatient
occupancy levels, demand for theatre availability and inadequate
parking. This leads to a dire need for the hospital to increase its
capacity,” says Nairobi Hospital.
The development will be in three phases. The first
will see the construction of a 14-storey building that will host
outpatient departments, diagnostic centre, inpatients wards, operating
theatre department, critical care centre and centre for nephrology,
renal and urology.
A six-storey parking silo with 1,021 bays will also
be built as well as a water purification plant with a capacity to treat
45 cubic metres of water per hour. Phase two will comprise a
nine-storey speciality block and an eight-storey doctors’ plaza.
The third phase will include a 14-storey centre of
excellence and an eight-storey university education block. The hospital
said it opted to expand the hospital rather than build a new one as this
would take long and is more costly.
“It is vital to optimally utilise existing land
within such premises given that the land mass in Nairobi area is rapidly
dwindling,” the Nema report adds. “Nairobi Hospital occupies 23 acres
of land. The proposed projects will occupy about 6.5 acres which have
not been utilised so far.”
The proposed university block suggests the hospital
may be looking to offer degree courses. Currently, the hospital runs a
school of nursing offering qualification of up to a higher diploma.
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