Efforts to improve health facilities in Kirinyaga County are finally paying off with improved service delivery in many of the rural facilities in the area.
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Photo by Irungu Mwangi/KNA.
Deputy Governor (DG), Kirinyaga County, Peter Ndambiri said the County is implementing a Health Insurance Scheme known as ‘Kiri Care’, which will make it easy for the public to access health services.
Ndambiri said the construction of a five-storey building at the Kerugoya County Hospital will expand the bed capacity from the current 250 to more than 500 beds.
He said the successful installation of dialysis machines at the County Hospital has significantly reduced the need for patients to travel to Kenyatta National Hospital where such services were previously exclusively available in the past
“Our County Hospital has also installed a scanner which has also saved hundreds of patients from Mt. Kenya region who have been subjected to frequent and inconveniencing travel to Nairobi for scanning services,” he said.
The County Government installed an Ultra-modern machine at a cost of Sh.40 million, the DG added.
Ndambiri said the facility has been a relief to many families who previously had to travel with their sick kin to Nairobi with difficult challenges.
He said many patients have either died while on the way to Nairobi or their conditions gotten worse due to the lengthy journey for scanning facilities.
The DG said the facility will not only benefit the residents of Kirinyaga County but even those within the neighboring ones such as Embu, Murang’a, Mwingi and Tharaka Nithi.
“It is now taking doctors lesser time to diagnose various ailments without any guess work since the machine is be able to detect the specific body part which has a problem,” Ndambiri said.
He said the scan has the ability to identify specific areas of diagnosis thus enhancing the health of the patients.
Joyce Nyaguthii, aged 70 years from Kiandegwa considers the provision of dialysis services a huge relief, both financially and emotionally.
She suffers from kidney failure, a condition that forced her to go to Kenyatta National Hospital many times, spending a lot of time and money in the process.
“We no longer need to make long trips in search of treatment now that the machines are here at our local hospital,” Nyaguthii said.
Ndambiri at the same time, denied that Governor Waiguru’s Administration was neglecting Mwea as claimed suggested by some leaders from the area.
He said the County Government was implementing a Sh.74 million sewerage system after recently completing the modernization of Ngurubani Market which cost over Sh.35 million.
Ndambiri said when they took over the office, there was no maternity wing at South Ngariama, adding that the same has since been established and in operation, saving mothers the agony of travelling many kilometres to Kerugoya Hospital.
“There is no vacant position in the County and those claiming we are not delivering should leave us alone until 2022, they should give us time to deliver our mandate,” he said.
“Some of our critics are interested parties eyeing the County Gubernatorial position in 2020, they should wait until the election time and stop interfering with our implementation of projects,” he said.
The DG was speaking to journalists at Sagana after paying a visit to the elders at St. Mary’s Home for the elderly.
On the modern markets, Ndambiri said the facilities have been installed with security lights and added traders were now able to operate on a 24-hour basis.
He said the traders who used to close down their business at 6 pm, are able to operate and enjoy a 24-hour economy.
By Irungu Mwangi
