Healthcare services at the Nakuru County Referral and Teaching Hospital will receive a major boost following the scheduled equipping and operationalization of the new ultra-modern outpatient facility to a tune of Sh 2.35 billion, courtesy of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The standalone complex, constructed at a cost of Shs 600 million, is part of the Shs 1 billion facelift that the county government has been carrying out at the referral hospital in response to the increased number of patients seeking services at the facility.
County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Health Services Jacqueline Osoro said that the USAID-funded project will be undertaken by Stand-Med, a private healthcare technology company.
The outpatient complex, Osoro explained, is equipped with a pharmacy, X-ray machines, and modern laboratories that will cater for more patients, adding that they were experiencing an increased influx of referrals from other hospitals and health centres within the larger Rift Valley.
“Our strategy is not only to cope with the numbers but mainly to offer quality and affordable disease diagnostic, management, and treatment services,” stated the CECM.
The CECM said the referral hospital serves more than eight counties in the South Rift region, including Bomet, Kericho, Samburu, Baringo, Nyandarua, and Laikipia, where 2,000 patients are said to be treated daily, with 750 of them being inpatients.
Osoro was speaking when he led a team from Standmed Healthcare Technology Company, led by its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ian Okello, on a tour of the Referral and Teaching Hospital.
She noted that the outpatient facility was part of Governor Susan Kihika’s administration’s efforts to revamp the county’s health sector to ensure improved efficiency in emergency response.
The CECM indicated that huge investments in outpatient health facilities were still needed to improve health services across the devolved unit and pledged that the county administration would continue looking for avenues towards increasing budgetary allocation to improve the provision of health care services.
One of Governor Kihika’s agenda items, Osoro said, was to promote constructive collaboration and public-private partnerships to strengthen Nakuru’s health sector, in addition to prioritising the operationalization of all hospitals that have been built to ensure residents benefit from the huge health infrastructure investments.
Osoro noted that malaria, diseases of the respiratory system, skin diseases, diarrhoea, and intestinal parasites were major challenges at outpatient facilities around the county and assured that the new facility would provide easily accessible health services for Kenyans in the county and beyond.
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Nairobi, Standmed Healthcare Technology Company provides network-enabled services for healthcare and point-of-care mobile apps in Africa.
The firm prides itself on developing web and mobile applications aimed at facilitating communication between research institutions, healthcare providers, patients, and families with the goal of improving healthcare service delivery.
Osoro stated that the laboratories, pharmacy, and X-ray facilities within the standalone facility will be purely for outpatients to ensure a faster and more efficient process of laboratory tests, X-ray services, and the dispensing of drugs.
The county runs 184 health facilities, including dispensaries, health centres, level four hospitals, and the Nakuru Level Five Hospital.
By Esther Mwangi
