Kenya to enhance quality of healthcare with US$1m hospital upgrade

KENYA – Kenya has kicked off the construction of KES 100 million (US$1m) ultramodern Medical Male Surgical Ward at Busia County Referral Hospital (BCRH) to strengthen provision of quality health services to the area residents in the Western region.

The construction of the new facility involves a KES64 million (US$560,000) male ward block, initiation of the Intensive Care Unit at a cost of KES6.5 million (US$56,000), installation of a standby generator at a cost of KES 11 million (US$96,000) among other undertakings.

The male ward will have medics attending to patients who have suffered fractures and other injuries especially as a result of motorcycle accidents and fights.

The National Government partnered with the Council of Governors and Busia County Government to construct an advanced surgical ward with additional bed capacity in an effort to ease congestion at the referral hospital.

The ongoing project is being undertaken by Petmart Services Limited and it is expected to be completed by 30^th June 2022 based on the existing agreement.

The Busia County Referral Hospital formerly had 60 beds in the male surgical ward and the upgrade will see the hospital house additional 48 more beds to address the acute shortage of beds in the local public hospitals around Busia County.

The Busia County Government is also currently improving level 4 medical facilities at the sub county hospitals along with other strategies to ensure that congestion is reduced at the BCRH.

The County Chief Officer for Health and Sanitation Jonathan Ino pointed out that seven sub-county hospitals have been upgraded to level five and four and have been fully equipped to attend to all referrals.

He acknowledged that construction of the surgical ward will also ensure enough space to accommodate patients who require surgery which will be a big boost to the county health sector.

Jonathan Ino disclosed that the current space being used for surgeries will be utilized to serve other medical services that will be beneficial to the people across the region once the new facility is complete.

“Previously, the only place where patients were not made to share a bed is the Intensive Care Unit because each patient there is on life-support machines which cannot be shared,” he further revealed.

He explained that the hospital upgrades sought to end the times when two people would share a bed in male surgical ward while others sleep on the floor but because the Busia referral hospital could not drive away patients.

Upon completion of the Medical Male Surgical Ward, the Busia County Referral Hospital will be well-equipped to attend to all patient referrals thus reducing the overcrowding and sharing of beds in most of the health facilities within the town.

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