Tenwek Hospital breaks ground on new Sh4.5bn heart surgeries centre
The front view of the Cardio-Thoracic Centre at Tenwek Hospital in Bomet County on October 14, 2024.
What you need to know:
- Tenwek Hospital handles 50 percent of the corrective surgeries in Kenya annually
Rheumatic heart disease is a major issue in the country with over 4,000 children born with the congenital condition annually.
When doctors at Tenwek Hospital performed ground-breaking open heart surgeries in November 2008, little did they realise that their action would attract global attention.
From the initial 12 patients who underwent open heart surgeries in an annual medical camp that was to be repeated in subsequent years, the numbers have since grown to more than 250 a year.
Residential houses for doctors at Tenwek Hospital's, Sh4.5 billion Cardio-Thoracic Centre.
The hospital became the first Christian, rural-based facility (managed under the Christian Hospitals Association of Kenya) to conduct successful heart surgeries, setting the pace for major government hospitals. The facility which is located in Silibwet in Bomet County has broken ground on a Sh4.5 billion Cardiothoracic Centre (CTC) that will raise the number of patients from 250 to 2,000 a year.
The AGC Tenwek Cardiothoracic Centre, an architectural masterpiece was constructed with support from Samaritan's Purse under the leadership of the President and CEO Reverend Franklin Graham (the son of famous US evangelist the late Billy Graham).
“Tenwek Hospital handles 50 percent of the corrective surgeries in Kenya annually. Many more patients die while waiting in line,” Mr Benjamin Siele, the acting chief executive at Tenwek Hospital, told Nation.
The CTC will be a 176-bed facility domiciled in a building detached from the main hospital. It will free up more space for other specialist cases in the main hospital unit. It will have six cardiothoracic theatres, a preoperative holding area, a laboratory, a blood bank and a 32-bed post anaesthesia care centre.
Tenwek Hospital Acting Chief Officer Benjamin Siele in his office on October 3, 2024.
“The wing will have 52 intensive care units, six major operating tables, five endoscopy rooms, CT scan and X-ray machines, post-anaesthesia units, cauterisation suites, examination rooms, and an outpatient clinic” Mr Siele stated.
Dr Russ White, the CTC director, said the facility will provide specialist services.
“It is an endeavour that was mooted in 2018 after years of technical research and proposals with two big problems encountered over the years in areas of – oesophagal cancer, rheumatic heart disease and congenital heart disease,” he said.
The Sh4.5 billion Tenwek Hospital's Cardio-Thoracic Centre in this photo taken on October 14, 2024
The centre, Dr White added, will “address the pressing need for advanced cardiac treatment not only in Kenya but also in the African continent,” the medic said.
Dr Patrick Amoth, the Director-General of Health, said: “Tenwek Hospital is a trailblazer in open heart surgeries with 2,000 cases having been operated on since the year 2008. The centre will significantly increase the number of major heart and chest surgeries performed in Kenya.”
Rheumatic heart disease is a major issue in the country with over 4,000 children born with the congenital condition annually.
The Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, alongside the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi and Tenwek Hospital are among the few health facilities where open heart surgeries are conducted.
