Nairobi Metropolitan Services is set to launch a new Level Five hospital in the capital, NMS Director of Health Services Josephine Kibaru-Mbae announced.
Speaking to journalists on Sunday, November 8, she stated that Mathare-Korogosho Level Five Hospital was 80% complete and would be opened early in 2021.
“Since July when President Uhuru Kenyatta told us to take it up and finish it, the contractor came back on site and has been given a budget of close to Ksh 400 million for the project. So far, it is at about 80 per cent complete,” she said.
The facility will have a capacity of 100 beds, an Intensive Care Unit, Kidney dialysis centre, and theatres.
The NMS will contract Kenya Medical Supplies Authority to supply drugs to the facility.
The facility was first built in 1989 but its upgrade stalled for years before President Kenyatta’s intervention.
NMS Director-General Mohammed Badi had promised Nairobi 24 hospitals targeting underserved areas to reduce the burden on KNH, Mbagathi, Mama Lucy and Pumwani Hospitals.
“I intend to build 24 fully functional hospitals in Nairobi’s informal settlements. Development comes at a cost and we must ensure we do not go back to where we came from," Badi promised when he presented his first 100-day scorecard to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Of the 24 health facilities, 19 will be level 2 hospitals built from scratch while five will be rehabilitated.
According to a 2014 report by the County government of Nairobi, there are 76 public health facilities inclusive of health centres and dispensaries.
The facilities will be at Viwandani, Majengo, Mathare, Kayole, Soweto, Korogocho, Kawangware, Gitare Marigu, Mukuru kwa Njenga, Mukuru kwa Reuben, Kibera and Githurai 44.
