Nairobi Company Saves KNH Moments After Declaring Emergency

Surgeons at Kenyatta National Hospital
Surgeons at Kenyatta National Hospital
File

A Nairobi-based company has supplied Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) with oxygen tanks hours after an emergency was declared.

BOC Kenya Limited supplied the unknown number of tanks to the national hospital on Tuesday, April 6.

In a statement, KNH management celebrated the milestone noting that surgery services would continue as it always had.

"Kenyatta National Hospital has received Oxygen thanks to BOC Kenya Limited.

Kenyatta National Hospital.
Kenyatta National Hospital.
File

"This will enable The hospital to attend emergency surgeries as well as run COVID 19 facilities that cater for patients who require Oxygen support," read the statement.

An earlier report had indicated that the hospital intended to discontinue elective surgery beginning Wednesday, April 7, after it had ran out of oxygen.

The reports had also indicated that some patients would be discharged after the facility became overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients.

On March 23, 2021, the hospital had announced that it was scaling down its clinical services to accommodate the rising cases of Covid-19.

“In order to ensure that discharged patients have ample time to leave the hospital premises and reach their destination in good time so as not to breach the curfew, all documentation including case summary (for discharged patients) to be prepared and sent to the billing office not later than 2:30pm every day,” read the memo in part at the time.

It is, however, not yet clear how many cylinders were given to KNH by the company.

BOC Kenya Limited manufactures and markets industrial and medical gases. 

The company was established in Mombasa, Kenya, in 1940, In 1947 the company started operations in Nairobi and later years, in Kisumu, Kampala, Mwanza and Dar-es-Salaam. The company was listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in 1969.

A worker inspecting Boc Gas cylinders
A worker inspecting Boc Gas cylinders
File