The current 425 beds for Covid -19 patients in Kiambu County are not adequate compared to data given by the Kenya National bureau of Statistics in the 2019 Census.
According to census, it stated that the population stood at 47.6 million people compared to 38.6 million in 2010 and Kiambu County was recorded to be populated with at least 2.4 million people.
The governor of Kiambu Dr.James Nyoro is categorical that more effort needs to be put into improving and equipping all the health facilities in the county so that they may take in all patients as the population that is seeking health services in Kiambu has continued to increase day and night. “What was captured in the census has already been surpassed and there is a need to improve the infrastructure to accommodate the growth in numbers”he stated.
Dr.Nyoro says for the country to achieve Universal health coverage (UHC) as outlined in the big 4, the County Government of Kiambu is going to invest more money in the health sector.
To this end, Dr.Nyoro says he would ensure that Lari level 4 hospital which is envisaged to serve people from Lari and Limuru is completed within 6 months.
The governor while touring the hospital yesterday said the new complex was at 52 per cent to completion and that by February 2021, it will be complete and ready for occupation. The completion of the new facility will increase the bed capacity with 100 more beds therefore easing the pain of people traversing long distances in search of service.
He appealed to the residents of the 2 sub-counties to be patient but continue adhering to the Ministry of health protocols of protecting themselves by properly wearing masks, keeping social distances and avoid involving themselves in crowds so that they keep the Covid virus at bay.
“The first level of maintaining safety is in your homes where you have to maintain all the required protocols. In case anybody discovers that you have any health problems, you should not hesitate to consult the nearest hospital so that you are attended to before your condition deteriorate” Dr.Nyoro noted. He further directed that people with non-communicable diseases should now be given drugs to take them one month so that they avoided travelling unnecessary trips in search of the drugs which they used on a daily basis.
Governor Nyoro recalled that on the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 when the President directed counties to have at least 300 ICU beds, the County Government of Kiambu diverted the money that was meant to construct Lari hospital to Wangige and Tigoni hospitals.
This really helped to give Kiambu the muscle of attaining the 300 beds and even surpassed the target within record time. He said owing to the growing number of people infected on a daily basis with Kiambu becoming second to Nairobi, more efforts will be put into seeing the completion of Lari hospital.
According to data announced yesterday during the daily COVID-19 briefing by CS for Health Mr. Mutahi Kagwe, Kiambu emerged 2nd once more with 72 cases following Nairobi which led with 277 cases from a sample size of 6,195 tested in the last 24 hours.
The governor said this trend which had rendered Kiambu to be vulnerable and therefore the need for National government to bail her out by increasing some money to her health sector bearing in mind that people from Nairobi, Murang’a, Nakuru, Kajiado and Machakos sought health services from Kiambu.
By Lydia Shiloya
