•With a 350-bed capacity, will be the largest-capacity public hospital in Nairobi.
• It will be Nairobi's first Level 5 hospital.
Image: MAUREEN KINYANJUI
Ready to open its doors this week, the much-awaited Mathare-Korogocho Level 5 Hospital will be renamed Mama Margaret Kenyatta Hospital.
The Sh400 million five-storey hospital is expected to reduce the patient load at Mama Lucy Hospital, which serves more than 2.1 million people in Eastlands area.
Nairobi Metropolitan Services director general Mohammed Badi over the weekend said the hospital will start attending to patients, ahead of its official commissioning later this month.
"This hospital had stalled for years, but will in a week’s time open its doors to the public awaiting its commissioning," he said.
With a 350-bed capacity, it will be Nairobi's biggest public hospital imterms of bed capacity.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to commission the five-storey building, making it Nairobi’s first Level 5 Hospital.
A Level 5 hospital is a county referral hospital with more than a 100-bed capacity and is by a CEO who must be a physician by profession.
The hospital has a 24-hour pharmacy, dialysis centre, an intensive care unit, burns unit and surgical theatres.
It will will offer dialysis, radiology services, tuberculosis management, mortuary and autopsy services, pathology, chemotherapy and forensic services.
Construction works, ongoing since 1989, stalled for several years before President Uhuru Kenyatta in July last year directed the Nairobi Metropolitan Services to take over.
The hospital is expected to have more than 300 workers in different health cadres.
Image: MAUREEN KINYANJUI
In September, NMS signed an MoU with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology to have the students pursuing medical courses undertake their practical studies at the hospital.
The hospital will dedicate an entire floor to attend to boda boda riders injured while on duty.
NMS director of health services Dr Ouma Oluga said Mathare-Korogocho Hospital together with Mama Lucy will significantly reduce the 47 per cent of walk-in patients seeking medical attention at the Kenyatta National Hospital.
Mama Lucy is also in the process of being elevated to a Level 5 Hospital. It will be complete next year with air evacuation services.
Its bed capacity will be increased from 188 to 256 beds as NMS is setting up a second wing with a 66-bed capacity.
Mama Lucy attends to 27,000 patients monthly, including 25,000 in outpatient and 2,000 inpatient.
It delivers 1,200 babies monthly, including 300 by C-section.
"We call on the public to take advantage of the specialised health care services available for free or at subsidised rates in these facilities," Oluga said.
(Edited by V. Graham)