Nakuru revamps maternity hospitals to tame deaths

The Nakuru County government has embarked on an ambitious plan to reinvigorate maternity hospitals in the region as it seeks to reduce maternal mortality.

Nakuru is among counties that have been experiencing high maternal deaths.

In a bid to give expectant mothers quality services and hope, the county government has pumped millions of shillings into revitalising the facilities that were abandoned by the previous regime and those in poor state.

Expectant mothers in Gilgil have a reason to smile after the county government allocated Sh40 million for the upgrade of a maternity wing at the Gilgil Hospital.

The women have been travelling to the Nakuru Level Five Hospital in Nakuru town to deliver.

GILGIL MATERNITY

The Gilgil maternity wing will supplement the 250-bed capacity Margaret Kenyatta Mother Baby Wing at the Nakuru Level Five Hospital opened by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta last year.

The state-of-the-art maternity wing, built at a cost of Sh450 million, is the biggest one in the larger Rift Valley region, largest after Nairobi County's Pumwani Hospital.

It also serves Bomet, Baringo, Narok, Kericho, Samburu, Laikipia and Nyandarua counties.

It is a standalone facility with four modern theatres, an intensive care unit for both mothers and the baby unit, a pharmacy, laboratory, an imaging centre and antenatal and postnatal clinics.

All maternal services, including reproductive health and children complications, are offered at the facility.

BONDENI

The county government has also revamped and equipped the Bondeni maternity in Nakuru Town East, now a level four facility.

The maternity facility, situated at the heart of Bondeni, the oldest informal settlements in Nakuru, now has modern equipment.

The more than 40-year-old facility serves mothers from various slums including Kivumbini, Lake View, Kwa Rhoda, Kaptembwa, Flamingo, Kaloleni and Bondeni among others.

The Bondeni Hospital was set up in 1952 to take care of African women living in the South of the railway in Nakuru town.

It was purely a maternity hospital but, previously, it did not admit first time mothers as it could not handle any complications because there were only nurses as attendants.

But today, it attracts hundreds of mothers seeking to deliver safely.

UPGRADED

In 2015, the facility was upgraded to a level four hospital and allocated its own budget.

The hospital, which was previously associated with the poor, has undergone a major facelift.

According to County Health Executive Kariuki Gichuki, the county seeks to establish and equip maternity wings to ensure mothers do not have to rely on the Nakuru Level Five’s Margaret Kenyatta Mother Baby Wing in Nakuru town for delivery.

The Nakuru Health department got the lion’s share of Governor Lee Kinyanjui’s Sh15 billion 2018/2019 budget.

The critical department got nearly 36 percent of the total budget.

UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE

Governor Kinyanjui, in an interview with the Nation, further revealed that the health sector will get a fair share of the county’s development funds to help boost universal healthcare that has been listed in the Jubilee administration’s Big Four agenda.

“Giving birth outside hospital is a risky gamble, especially in cases where expectant women run into unforeseen complications. The facilities will provide affordable and quality healthcare for mothers and new-borns who have been travelling to the Nakuru Level Five Hospital to get the services. We want residents in sub-counties, especially those in far-flung areas, to easily access the services,” said Mr Kinyanjui.

The county has also instituted hospital boards and committees to ensure good service delivery at the grassroots.