Sportpesa unveils Ksh1.2m investment to support maternal health
Milestone SportPesa Foundation has invested Ksh1.2 million in building and equipping the level two Rironi Community Health Centre (RCHC), in Kiambu County, as part of its maternal health support.
This follows a request by Limuru residents for a health centre to offer all-round maternity services in the area following the conversion of Tigoni Hospital into a Covid Isolation and treatment centre.
The SportPesa Foundation has also broken ground for construction of an ablution block to help start off the Rironi Community Health Centre (RCHC) maternity wing and will support the hospital to convert its old outpatient ward to a maternity wing due to increased demand following the closure of the Tigoni Hospital.
“It gives us great pleasure to have the opportunity to support this health centre. The community approached us following increased demand for a clean, safe, well equipped ward for women to give birth; this being our motivator to help on this project and equip it with the items needed to make it functional,” said SportPesa CEO Captain Ronald Karauri.
The hospital has recently finished the building of a new outpatient wing with the support of a major telco in the country, thus creating space to renovate the old wing to cater for the increased demand for in-patient maternity services.
“We plan to boost our support for maternal health care projects this second half of the year as part of giving back to the community,” added Captain Karauri.
Rironi Health Centre is a level II healthcare facility that started in August 2011 with the support of the community and the national government-backed constituency development funds (CDF). It started as a community dispensary and has grown over the years, increasing its reach to serve community members from Rironi, Gatimu, Gatina, Kamandura, Gichagi, Kiroe and Tharuni villages. The health care facility has an outpatient facility serving at least 90-130 patients in a day.
“We are grateful for the support we have received from SportPesa Foundation. The refurbishment of this ward and the new equipment will go a long way is supporting mothers in this community. We have seen more women opting to give birth at home in this area due to lack of capacity; the support is timely,” said the Clinical Officer in-charge of the facility, Agnes Wambui.
This is the fourth hospital SportPesa is supporting this year. Recently the Foundation has supported two hospitals in Nairobi County – Lunga Lunga Health Centre and Riruta Health Centre – with Ksh3 million worth of maternal health equipment and construction. Earlier in the year the Foundation supported Ndarawetta Health Centre in Bomet County.
SportPesa Foundation remains committed in supporting communities in areas of sports and education, maternal care and ending period poverty by promoting menstrual hygiene projects.
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