The Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital urgently needs either liquid oxygen bank or an oxygen plant in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19.
Chief executive Iqbal Khandwalla on Monday appealed to the Mombasa Cement, well-wishers and donors for support.
“Covid-19 demands huge supplies of oxygen. We request for assistance with a liquid oxygen bank or an oxygen plant from not only Mombasa Cement but also other well-wishers,” Khandwalla said.
He spoke at the hospital while receiving a donation of 10 wheelchairs from philanthropist Hasnuk Patel, the proprietor of Mombasa Cement.
The donation was presented by Mohammed Amir from the company, who said Patel and the cement firm are willing to help the hospital.
The company has support several programmes at the facility. Patel has been paying medical bills for poor patients, especially children.
“We have been paying medical bills on a daily basis here,” Amir said.
This has been more so during this time of Covid-19 when most people are hard-hit financially. “We are more than willing to donate more items when requested,” Amir said.
Khandwalla said the payment of bills for poor patients has helped the facility to sustain itself given that it is not a profit-making institution.
“All the charges are highly subsidised. So whatever donations we receive help us to reduce our operating expenditure,” he said.
Mombasa Cement has an agent stationed at the hospital to capture some of the needy situations. The agent receives requests for help, including payment for mortuary bills and transportation of bodies to burial locations.
“There is always a need for wheelchairs in hospitals because of the high volumes and the wear and tear,” Khandwalla said.
“Mombasa Cement has been one of our big donors and rightly so. Patel has assisted in not only the provision of wheelchairs but also the construction of the perimeter wall.”
The wheelchairs are at the Bombolulu Workshop for the Physically Handicapped.
“We have been looking to promote our own. We have a special inclination towards people with disability because they have been overlooked in our society,” Amir said.
The call for oxygen supply support comes amid contradicting statements from county and national government officers over the availability of bed space for Covid-19 patients.
On Monday, county commissioner Gilbert Kitiyo told the Star that Mombasa hospitals do not have enough space to accommodate Covid-19 patients and that the county needs additional ICU beds.
Kitiyo said ICUs, ventilators and beds in all main hospitals including CGTRH, Mombasa Hospital, Pandya and Aga Khan hospitals are full and can no longer admit critical patients.
However, county public health communication officer Richard Chacha said there is space in hospitals for Covid-19 patients.
“There are enough beds in our hospitals and when someone goes under home-based care that is their own choice and not because of lack of beds,” Chacha said.
He said the 300 beds that were at the Technical University of Mombasa Isolation Centre will be taken to Mvita and Tudor hospitals.
“Renovation of the two hospitals is expected to end this week and the beds taken there,” he said.
Chacha said Tudor hospital will have a capacity of 40 beds including five ICU beds while Mvita will have a capacity of 80 beds for Covid-19 patients.