Newly constructed hospitals Ease pressure on existing facilities. 

By Evans Isohe.

Data from the newly opened level 2 hospitals records in various informal settlements in Nairobi is helping reduce congestion in at various hospitals in Nairobi.

The hospitals attends to least 400 patients per day from different parts of the area the hospital are locate.

In the last one month a total of 30,000 patients have been attended to at the four newly opened Nairobi metropolitan services hospitals which has ease pressure in Nairobi informal settlement in matters of health.

The 4 hospitals have also eased pressure on Kenyatta National Hospital & Mama Lucy Hospital.

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is one of the Government’s “Big Four” Agenda aimed at ensuring access to affordable healthcare for all Kenyans. The Government launched the UHC Pilot Programme on 13th December, 2018, covering four counties of Kisumu, Machakos, Nyeri and Isiolo. The pilot was the first phase of the UHC model expected to be rolled out in all counties four years. The Government’s provision of free maternity services in public hospitals to improve maternal and child health, introduction of the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS), which requires all school going children to have a birth certificate and the registration of unregistered infants at the point of immunization, improve coverage of birth registration in the country.

According to data from NMS health directorate since the launch of facilities in Muthua-Uthiru, Ushirika-Dandora, kiamaiko and kayole a total of 16,208 patients have sought treatment at the hospitals.

Mutua-Uthiru hospital has attended to 5,799 patients, Kayole 3,774, Ushirika 3,541 and Kiamaiko 2,919.

‘’According to KNBS – Economic Survey Report 2020, in 2019, birth registration and death registration coverage increased to 75.7 per cent and 43.0 per cent, respectively. Registered births increased marginally by 3.5 per cent to 1,178,260 in 2019, with 96.3 per cent of the registered births occurring in health facilities. Based on registered births, the sex ratio at birth in 2019 was 103 males for every 100 females. In 2019, a total of 190,696 deaths were registered. There was higher registration of deaths of males in 2019, with 125 males registered for every 100 females.’’

During the last 3 months a total of 41 deliveries have been recorded at the hospitals with 17 at Uthiru, 11 in Kayole, 8 in Kiamaiko and 5 in Ushirika.

The number of patients who have seek both ante-natal and post-natal care were 47 large number of them coming from Kayole Soweto and Uthiru. Another 750 patients have visited the hospitals in search of family planning services, 1380 for immunization, 718 for laboratory services and 1,771 for nutritional care.

The number of patients over five years has been more accounting to 6,963 while those below the age of five years accounting to 3,796.

Kayole/Soweto hospital

Image: Courtesy 

‘’According to KNBS – Economic Survey Report 2020 National Government expenditure on health services was expected to increase by 50.9 per cent to KSh 115.8 billion in 2019/20, with development expenditure accounting for 56.2 per cent. County Governments’ expenditure on health services was expected to grow by 24.6 per cent to KSh 114.7 billion in 2019/20. The ratio of government expenditure on health to its total expenditure was expected to be 7.1 per cent in 2019/20.’’

‘’Total National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) membership increased by 10.5 per cent to 8.5 million in 2018/19. Receipts grew by 22.0 per cent to KSh 58.0 billion in 2018/19 while payouts increased by 36.8 per cent to KSh 53.4 billion. The number of health facilities in the country increased by 5.2 per cent to 13,790 in 2019 with level 2 facilities accounting for 77.4 per cent of the total facilities. Levels 4, 5, and 6 hospitals collectively accounted for 5.8 per cent of the total facilities. The number of deliveries in health facilities increased by 4.1 per cent to 1.15 million in 2019 with caesarean section accounting for 14.9 per cent.’’

‘’Still in the same report, in 2019, the number of registered nurses increased by 1.2 per cent to stand at 58,247, raising the number of registered health personnel per 100,000 population. The total number of undergraduate and postgraduate students taking health sciences increased by 5.7 per cent to 19,557 in 2019. The number of undergraduate students increased by 7.2 per cent to 17,175 while that of postgraduate students decreased marginally by 4.3 per cent from 2,488 in 2018 to 2,382 in 2019. The total number of graduates decreased slightly by 1.1 per cent to 4,000 in 2019 while the number of postgraduates increased significantly by 50.2 per cent during the period under review.’’

A level 2 health facility also known as a dispensary is run by Leadership which includes all senior managers at various levels of an organization, including PS, Director of Medical Services/Public Health, Departmental Heads, PMOs, all DHMT members, FBOs leader, CEOs, in-charges of departments, wards, laboratory, pharmacy, etc.

This story was produced by Evans Isohe at Mtaani Radio in partnership with Code for Africa, Kenya Community Media Network and the Catholic Media Council with support from the German Cooperation as a part of the Our County Our Responsibility project.