The Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) has renamed a city hospital after President Uhuru Kenyatta's wife, Margaret Kenyatta, after undergoing a Ksh400 million upgrade.
Mathare-Korogocho Level V Hospital has been named by NMS Director General, Mohamed Badi, to Mama Margaret Kenyatta Hospital.
The health facility had been closed down for five months to allow for the upgrade which has seen it receive state-of-the-art equipment.
"The hospital's upgrade had stalled for years but will now open its doors to the public in a week’s time awaiting commissioning," Badi stated.
The hospital is located in Mathare North and has a 350-bed capacity, making it the biggest under the management of the Nairobi County Government led by Governor Anne Kananu.
The Mama Margaret Kenyatta Hospital, which gained its prominence for dealing with cases of mental health in the country, will dedicate an entire floor to handling cases involving boda boda riders who account for many injuries.
It will also offer specialised treatments and check-ups including in-patient wards, a 24-hour pharmacy, kidney dialysis center, an intensive care unit, burns unit, and theatres.
Once officially opened, Mama Margaret Kenyatta Hospital will be the first county referral hospital that will be under the management of the county government.
The five-storey facility is expected to reduce patient congestion at the Mama Lucy Hospital that has a bed capacity of 188.
The two hospitals are expected to serve over 2.1 million people living in the Eastlands area of Nairobi and help in reducing congestion at the Kenyatta National Hospital.
"We call on the public to take advantage of the specialised health care services available for free or at subsidised rates in these facilities," NMS Director of Health Services, Ouma Oluga, stated.
The construction of the newly named Mama Margaret Kenyatta Hospital kicked off in the early 1990s but was later grounded. But General Badi took the renovations works fencing the entire area, a move that raised a lot of public reactions until a clarification was made on the works going on at the hospital.
Other hospitals that have been developed and upgraded by NMS include Mbagathi, Mutuini, and Pumwani Maternity hospital.
