President Kenyatta commissions five new hospitals in Nairobi

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday night commissioned five new hospitals in Nairobi County and directed them to offer 24 hour services to residents.

The new health facilities are part of 24 such hospitals being constructed by Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) as part of a broad Government plan to decongest Kenyatta National Hospital, Mama Lucy, Pumwani and Mbagathi hospitals.

The hospitals launched by the Head of State in the four-hour night operation were two level 2 hospitals at Gichagi in Kangemi and Gatina in Kawangware as well as level 3 hospitals in Mukuru Kwa Rueben, Tassia Kwa Ndege and Our Lady of Nazareth in Mukuru Kwa Njenga.

President Kenyatta, who was accompanied by NMS Director General Mohammed Badi and several senior Government officials, directed public hospitals in Nairobi to offer 24-hour services to ensure city residents access health services whenever they need them.

“The dispensaries and level 2 health facilities should operate 24 hours services in order to decongest Kenyatta National Hospital and Mama Lucy Hospital. Instead of someone using money to go and seek medical services at Kenyatta National Hospital, they need to access these services at the facilities which are near them,” President Kenyatta said.

Addressing journalists who accompanied him during the night operation at State House, Nairobi after the exercise, the President said he chose to commission the new hospitals at night so as to adhere to Covid-19 containment protocols.

“We went at night because we wanted to ensure that we were observing Covid-19 protocols. As you have seen for yourselves, it would have been impossible to go and do what we did today, during the day because of the number of people who would have been out there. It would have been very difficult for us to do the job we wanted to do and at the same time observe Covid protocols that the government has put in place,” he said.

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