Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) will stop offering Outpatient Services in two years time in a bid to decongest the institution for better service delivery, Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopha Mailu said on Tuesday.
Speaking during a meeting with the Nairobi County Government, Mr Mailu affirmed that the plan would roll out if other county hospitals improved their services. The initiative would enable KNH to focus solely on inpatient and referral cases from across the country.
“We expect that in the next one to two years, KNH will cease to offer outpatient services, but this is subject to review depending on whether county hospitals will be operating as per our expectations,” said Dr Mailu.
Mr Mailu further stated that they would work with the City Government to ensure satellite hospitals were upgraded to have inpatient services. Mbagathi and Mama Lucy Hospitals would also be elevated to referral hospitals to accomodate the high number of patients who go to KNH.
“We did not have Level Five or Six hospitals like other counties before the new Constitution was promulgated and we are elevating Mama Lucy and Mbagathi to referral status,” Nairobi County Health Executive Bernard Muia said.
This comes four months after a patient, Alex Madaga was kept waiting in an ambulance for 18 hours because KNH could not find a bed in its ICU ward. The critical case got the attention of the Health Ministry which promised to sought out the issue.
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