Medical services in Kilifi County received a major boost following completion and commissioning of a Sh1.5-billion medical complex at the Kilifi County Referral Hospital.
Governor Amason Jeffa Kingi said the complex, whose construction cost Sh885 million and which has state-of-the-art medical equipment worth about Sh700 million, would offer services comparable to some of the best private hospitals in Kenya.
Speaking after officially commissioning the complex, Kingi said the facility would offer critical medical services to Kilifi residents and stop the numerous referral cases to the Coast General Hospital and high-cost private hospitals in the region.
Kingi said the complex had an emergency and accident section, an intensive care unit and a number of minor and major surgical theatres alongside 100 beds in general, private and semi-private wards where patients will recuperate after getting specialized services.
He said that when he took the reins of leadership, some very critical services were missing in the county health facilities because previous governments had concentrated most medical services at provincial headquarters, which included the Coast General Hospital in Mombasa.
That was why when I took over as the first governor of Kilifi, my government concentrated on building new health facilities and improving existing ones in order to decongest the two main health facilities in Kilifi and Malindi towns, before embarking on the medical complex project, he said.
“We took long to realize this dream because our first priority was to decongest the big hospitals, which necessitated the construction of dispensaries and health centres across Kilifi County, and that was achieved in my first term,” he said.
The governor noted that at the then Kilifi District Hospital, there never existed an emergency and accident section, but there was a small room that could not offer any meaningful services to accident victims.
However, the entire first floor of the new complex now houses the emergency and accident section complete with a minor theatre to take care of accident victims.
“I can confidently say that medically, Kilifi is self-sufficient because the services that were forcing area residents to go to the Coast General Hospital in Mombasa or private hospitals are found now being offered here,” he said.
The governor urged the residents of Kilifi County to make use of the facility instead of going to Mombasa and other areas to seek for services that are being offered locally and cheaply.
“It will pain me greatly if I will see the residents of Kilifi after pouring a lot of funds into this project only for them to continue going to Mombasa or to private hospitals, yet the cost of medical care here is very low although the service is of high quality,” he said.
Kingi narrated that his quest for specialized medical services in the county started while he was on field attachment as a young lawyer, when he got an accident and suffered a broken leg, but could not get proper medical care in Malindi and Kilifi, almost losing one of his legs.
“That is why I served as a lawyer for a few years and then ventured into politics with the aim of realizing my goal of improving healthcare services in Kilifi,” he said, adding that his dream came true when he was elected governor.
Kilifi County Executive Committee Member for Health Charles Karisa Dadu, explained that the project was being implemented in phases, with phase one having cost about Sh496 million and phase two costing about Sh389 million.
He said phase one had already been equipped with state-of-the-art equipment worth about Sh700 million from the County Government, the National Government through the Devolution Support Fund and from the Government of France.
“These include equipment fitted in the ICU, the Accident and Emergency wing, sterilization facilities, and an oxygen plant among others,” he said.
He said the construction of phase two of the project was also complete and would be equipped with cancer screening and treatment facilities as well as radiology facilities that include Computerized Tomography Scan (CT-Scan) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) facilities.
“The rooms are ready for use and experts have already inspected them. We expect to start the procurement process of procuring the equipping, which we hope to start fitting by September this year,” he said.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Governor Gideon Saburi and a number of Members of the Kilifi County Assembly led by Sokoni Ward MCA Gilbert Peru, who hailed the county administration for the project.
Residents, led by Mkoka Kalume Mkoka and Kache Chengo, lauded the county government for the project saying it would ease the burden of having to travel far to get specialized treatment.
By Emmanuel Masha
