Power disruptions that have affected operations at the Gatundu Level 4 hospital in Kiambu County have been resolved and the facility is now assured of a greater capacity to handle patients.
The Kenya Power (KP) County Business Manager Engineer Kennedy Ogalo said that the hospital was connected on a 1000kVA transformer which is adequate to run the hospital services.
While clarifying the status of the prevailing challenges which hospital staff feared could affect operations, Engineer Ogalo noted that a 129mm aluminium underground cable had been connected in 2016 during the commissioning of the hospital by the President as a temporary measure.
“The decision was made as an emergency measure because the desired 630mm width aluminium underground cable could not fit the hospital metering panel,” he explained.
He made the clarification during the Kiambu County Development Implementation Coordination Committee (CDICC) meeting held at the Kiambu County Commissioner’s office.
Concern on Ultra-Modern Gatundu hospital with a capacity of 500,000 patients had been raised during an earlier meeting in which the CEC in charge of Health, Ms. Mary Kamau, reported that the block that houses important machines was frequently affected by power outages.
She said that health workers had expressed fear that there could have been a major electrical problem on the said block and that some intervention was required so that they could continue offering uninterrupted services to patients.
Ms Kamau thanked KP for addressing the power problem saying the health of the people was paramount and when health workers have surety from the experts, it was reassuring.
She told the committee that Gatundu hospital was similarly busy like Thika and Kiambu level 5 hospitals and that there were plans to elevate it to a level 5 status owing to its location and the flow of our patients.
The County Government of Kiambu set aside Sh 3.5 billion of its annual budget for health services which is also among the Big 4 Agenda of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s second term that envisages to provide citizens with universal health care.
By Lydia Shiroya
