A group of youth innovators has received a financial boost after Murang’a county government promised to procure special hospital beds from them.
The County Executive Member for Health and Sanitation Joseph Mbai has confirmed that the devolved administration will buy 100 beds from the young innovators from Kiambu County.
In the spirit of ‘Buy Kenya build Kenya’ Mbai said they will purchase the beds to equip newly established ICU at Murang’a Level 4 hospital as well as in other units in major hospitals within the county.
Mbai said Thursday when he sampled some of the beds at the county headquarters that local health facilities were in need of equipment. He encouraged the youth to venture in the innovation of hospital equipment.
“We shall place an order of 100 beds once they meet all the procurement requirements. Murang’a Governor Mwangi wa Iria has supported the spirit of Buy Kenya Build Kenya,” said Mbai.
The ICU which has a bed capacity of 50 currently has 35 beds but there is need to increase more equipment at the facility so as to serve more patients.
The young innovators led by Paul Wanguraro and Paul Gathongo said they have acquired certification from Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBs) and soon they will start mass production of special medical beds.
He said the group which consists of 10 youth have secured a contract with the national government to manufacture 500 beds which will be distributed to various health facilities.
To meet the National Government contract of Sh. 32 million, the group has recruited additional young people to assist in manufacturing the beds within 45 days.
Gathogo said they will embark on mass production of the hospital beds and as they train other young people to gain the technical skills.
“Our team has gained knowledge from Numerical Machine Complex in Nairobi that will assist them to venture in mass production of the beds,” added Gathogo.
The team, Gathogo said, started selling face masks and sanitizers before they moved into the manufacturing of the much-needed ICU beds.
“We realized we have potential to support the government to keep the disease at bay, through partnership and moved into the hospital beds innovation,” he further said.
Other counties including Kiambu and Lamu have reached us seeking partnership in production of special beds for their hospitals.
Murang’a County Assembly youth representative Stephen Chege said one of the polytechnics will be used to train those who have done welding on how to make hospital beds.
“Young people from Murang’a County recruited under the ufundi kwa vijana programme will be trained to gain skills from the experts to help in manufacturing equipment which can boost service delivery in our hospitals,” said Chege.
By Bernard Munyao
