The Non-Communicable Disease Unit at Gatundu Level 5 Hospital in Kiambu County has eased the headache of patients traveling to Kenyatta National Hospital for treatment.
The centre which was established on an existing building of the hospital in 2016 has been credited for provision of quick and quality treatment to patients.
During a County Development Implementation and Coordination (CDICC) visit held at the level-5 hospital, the Kiambu County Commissioner (CC), Wilson Wanyanga together with other stakeholders commended the institution for serving a large number of patients within record time.
According to Dr. Peris Njiri, a Paediatrician who represented the hospital during the CDICC tour, the center serves about 80 patients suffering from diabetes and hypertension in a day. Moreover, she added that the clinic which opens at 8: 00am is very efficient as most of the patients are usually gone from 12 noon and are happy to return home early as this enables them to attend to their social economic activities.
She attributed this to the capacity of the center of being able to offer medical services at any given day unlike other public medical institution where one may have to wait for even months to receive the same treatment.
“Here you can come at any day at any given time. This is not a place like other medical institutions where you may even have to wait for the clinic days set aside for the treatment of those illnesses. This center offers a great opportunity for those suffering from these conditions since some of these clinic days may even take up to two months before being declared,” she said.
She added that despite there being several other non-communicable diseases such as asthma, cardiovascular diseases, strokes and cancer, the center mainly focuses on diabetes and hypertension. In spite of cancer being the notorious scourge currently taking away the lives of many Kenyans, the hospital lacks the machinery used for screening for the cancerous cells within the body and this has hindered the treatment of the disease.
Nevertheless, John Kariuki, the Hospital’s Health Administrator, said that the center has been able to reduce burden for Gatundu level 5 hospital since its establishment back in 2018. Before the center was constructed, diabetic and hypertensive patients used to be treated within the hospital.
However, due to inadequate specialists, excessive number of patients and limited resources mainly contributed to sharing of facilities with other departments within the hospital, challenges such as congestion arose within the institution, thus the need to establish the centre in order to combat the situation.
By Kingsley Wanjohi
