NMS commissions Ngara Otology Center, Nairobi's first public ear hospital
NMS Director-General Lieutenant General Mohamed Badi with Health CS Mutahi Kagwe when they commissioned the Githurai 44 level 3 hospital, Babadogo level 3 hospital and the Ngara Otology Center on July 20, 2022.
What you need to know:
- The Ngara Otology Center will specialise in the study, diagnosis and treatment of ear-related issues.
- CS Kagwe said the centre will have an ear-specialised area for adult patients with hearing complications and also newborn babies.
The Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) has commissioned a one-of-its-kind public hospital in Ngara dealing with ear-related complications including surgeries and implants.
The Ngara Otology Center will specialise in the study, diagnosis and treatment of ear-related issues offering a wide scope of services from consultation to simple ear drum surgery, cochlear implant and skull base surgery.
The facility is part of three NMS-built hospitals including Githurai 44 and Babadogo Level 3 Hospitals commissioned Wednesday by Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe and NMS Director General Mohamed Badi.
Mr Kagwe said the centre will have an ear-specialised area for adult patients with hearing complications and especially for newborn babies.
Fully equipped
He said they will expand, equip and train personnel to be posted in the facility to ensure top-notch services because there isn’t any other hospital, apart from Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), that deals with ear problems.
“Because it is the only facility of its kind, we are going to ensure that whatever facilitation is required both in terms of equipment and training of personnel is achieved. We will make sure it has the personnel to ensure the hospital achieves its purpose,” said Mr Kagwe.
The CS pointed out that the new hospitals are part of an ongoing plan to transform healthcare in the country with an eye on improving access to primary healthcare.
“For the first time, we have private hospitals referring their patients to public hospitals. This means the cost of healthcare will come down without families having to suffer financial consequences or become impoverished because someone fell ill,” he said.
He challenged health facilities across the country to integrate community health workers into their systems to help realise the dream.
“The idea is to have access to primary healthcare enhanced in the community to prevent diseases before they occur. We want to have doctors visiting people in their homes. Instead of people coming to look for healthcare, we go to them,” said Mr Kagwe.
Access to healthcare
Lieutenant General Badi said the newly-commissioned hospitals will further help in the decongestion of Nairobi’s referral hospitals including Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital and Mbagathi Hospital.
He pointed out that NMS has constructed and rehabilitated 28 hospitals – 24 newly-built hospitals and four rehabilitated – with 20 having been already commissioned and the remaining four will be opened before the end of this month.
This has seen access to public health facilities in Nairobi increase from 32 per cent in 2019 to 56 per cent this year alone with over 2.3 million patients attended to by the new NMS health facilities.
“The health facilities have greatly contributed to the decongestion of KNH. This year alone, NMS health facilities have attended to over 2,362,169 patients, bringing the utilisation and access of public health facilities in Nairobi from 32 per cent in 2019 to 56 per cent in 2022,” said Mr Badi.
