Ruiru Level Four Hospital has finally been opened bringing to an end years of suffering by residents of the populous Sub County who had been forced to seek for medical services many kilometres away in Thika or Kiambu.
The 200-bed capacity facility named the Uhuru Kenyatta Wing and whose construction started early last year will offer several services including an accident casualty wing, surgical theaters, and maternity wing, among others.
Plans are underway to construct a Sh800 million storied block to scale up the medical services provided and have the facility upgraded to a Level 5 Hospital.
Speaking during the opening, Kiambu Governor James Nyoro said the facility, constructed using prefabricated technology will transform health provision in the Sub County.
Before the upgrade, the facility served as a dispensary and had 11 staff workers and 46 beds. After the upgrade, it has 200 health workers including consultant pediatricians, surgeons, and nurses and has a capacity to attend to over 600 patients daily.
He said that in three to four months’ time, they will offer training to university students. It will also have 20 doctor interns coming in to give services.
“Three years ago, the hospital did not have a theatre. Then it moved to getting 40 operations monthly. We will now scale it up to 400 operations,” he said.
Ruiru Sub County has over 600,000 residents.
The Governor at the same time said plans to have Level 4 Hospitals in Kikuyu, Kabete and Juja Sub counties are underway.
He said in the coming days, they will open the modern Wangige Level 4 Hospital in Kabete to boost health provision in that area, as well as upgrade the LucyGetti Hospital in Kikuyu.
“It concerns me that all those years, Kikuyu, Kabete and Juja Sub counties do not have Level 4 Hospitals despite their huge population. This is something we are working on,” he said.
He submitted that his government has overseen the transformation of the county’s health sector, citing the upgrading of the Gatundu Hospital to a Level 5 facility, the construction of Wangige level 4 and the County’s Covid-19 centre in Tigoni, Limuru Sub County.
He said over that period, they have increased ICU beds from one to 52 in all the hospitals in the county.
“We have also put up oxygen tanks in several hospitals to help us fight with Covid. We are ready to make Tigoni a Level 4 Hospital and ensure every hospital has a Covid-19 wing.
By Muoki Charles
