Nakhumicha tasks new KNH board to remodel for complete self-reliance
By George.Kebaso, May 9, 2023Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha inaugurated the new board of management for Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH)and tasked it to ensure they transform it into a self-sustaining institution.
In the tray for the new board are several ongoing projects that are expected to generate income for the hospital once completed, and the CS directed they be fast tracked.
Subsequently, she also tasked the board to be innovative on how they deliver healthcare services by leveraging on technology owing to the tight fiscal space that the national government is currently in, so that it is able to track every cent it generates.
“So we want them to be innovative, and not to expect from the government, but be able to deliver the services as expected of them,” she said, emphasising the urgent need to fast track completion of the ongoing infrastructure projects. Some of these are aimed at decongesting the hospital as part of the government’s intentions to strengthen community response to diseases.
“We have a lot of infrastructure that’s going on in terms of projects to be able to decongest the hospital,” the CS told People Daily.
During a meeting with the new board meeting, she discussed with the members on how they can collaborate with other institutions within the ministry to be able to put up infrastructure that will take care of patients, especially at the primary healthcare level.
The plan to decongest the region’s biggest patient referral facility kicked off in mid-2018 when the Nairobi County agreed with the Ministry of Health to equip health centres within the city and keep them open longer to ease pressure on KNH.
Part of the agreement was the county budgets for the equipping of all its health centres with the necessary workforce and equipment, as most of the patients going to KNH could easily be checked and treated at a primary health facility.
“Things have changed and are improving because we are now meeting the processes more efficiently,” the hospital CEO Evanson Kamuri said.
He revealed that so far the number of patients visiting the hospital for basic treatment has declined by around 30 per cent.