House now seeks 1,000-bed hospital for viral diseases

Parliament has directed the budget committee to allocate funds for construction of a 1,000-bed capacity national hospital for treatment of infectious and viral diseases. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By JOHN MUTUA
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Summary

• Parliament has directed the budget committee to allocate funds for construction of a 1,000-bed capacity national hospital for treatment of infectious and viral diseases.
• The Budget and Appropriations Committee will now review the spending estimates for the 2020/21 period to free up funds for the project in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
• The House on Wednesday said that the money whose amount is yet to be decided will be ring-fenced to avert exchequer cuts-offs and disbursement delays likely to impede construction.

Parliament has directed the budget committee to allocate funds for construction of a 1,000-bed capacity national hospital for treatment of infectious and viral diseases.

The Budget and Appropriations Committee will now review the spending estimates for the 2020/21 period to free up funds for the project in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The House on Wednesday said that the money whose amount is yet to be decided will be ring-fenced to avert exchequer cuts-offs and disbursement delays likely to impede construction.

The move comes just days after the Ministry of Health warned that hospitals will be unable to handle the surge in the number of those infected.

Kenya currently has 518 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds across public and private hospitals underlining the nation’s lack of capacity for treatment of Covid-19 patients who fall into critical conditions.

“This House resolves the Budget & Appropriation Committee reviews the proposed Annual Estimates for the FY 2020/2021 with a view to allocating funds towards the establishment of a suitable national health facility for the treatment and management of infectious and viral diseases such the Covid-19, with a bed capacity of at least 1,000 persons,” MPs said on Wednesday.

The hospital to be constructed in the year starting July will ease pressure off the Kenyatta National Hospital, Mbagathi Level Five Hospital and county level five hospitals- currently handling the treatment and isolation of Covid-19 patients.

There is no dedicated national hospital for treatment of infectious diseases in the country in what has seen the national and county governments convert existing hospitals into Covid-19 treatment centres. This has however seen health workers exposed to infections on lack of personal protective gear and two have so far been infected with coronavirus exposing the country’s lack of preparedness to deal with deadly infections and viral diseases.

Construction of the hospital is in line with international standards that require Covid-19 patients to be housed in special separate quarantine wards.

Under the guidelines, the special wards must have controlled airflow so that infectious particles do not travel outside in efforts to limit transmission of the disease to other patients within the hospital.