Health Cabinet Secretary Nakhumicha S Wafula has done an inspection of the East African Center of Excellence for Urology and Nephrology,located within within the Kenyatta National Hospital grounds.
Accompanied by her EAC and ASAL counterpart Rebecca Miano,Nakhumicha urged the engineer in charge of the project to fast-track its completion in order to serve the growing needs of patients thus save lives of many Kenyans seeking the services of the facility.
“You people have given us a variation of Kshs 525 million and that’s too much we can’t afford it so you go and look at it.We are delaying people to benefit from the services of the facility that has been put up to serve their interest.Closing the floor and the ceiling that’s not it.For some people it’s a matter of life and death;when they get here and they see this institute working they will breath a sigh of relief. So please go and look at your figures and fine tune it to make it abit reasonable because the economy is gradually picking up because we need to see the progress of this initiative to serve its intended purpose ” she told the project consultant who promised to revert back by Tuesday next week.
The facility is funded by African Development Bank in partnership with Kenyan government.
Touted as a centre of excellence and a game changer in the management of kidney diseases in the region,the Sh3.6 billion kidney centre was put up in 2019.
Nakhumicha who has been spearheading the completion of various health facilities across the country in her quest to deliver Universal Health Coverage said the program will build Kenya’s need to manage a kidney health crisis and promote medical tourism from the neighbouring countries.
“The facility is aimed at facilitating the realization of the vision to strengthen health training, research capacity and provision of services to Kenyans, the East African Community and beyond.Besides,it will enhance the EAC’s competitiveness through a highly skilled workforce in the biological sciences,” she added.
The project comprising a five-storey regional medical school has 25 wards, laboratories, surgical theatres, high dependency units, consultation rooms and parking yards
According to the National Hospital Insurance Fund, dialysis is the single largest claim made to the fund.
In 2016, NHIF paid hospitals Sh839.9 million between July and December, up from Sh139.8 million in a similar period a year earlier — a five-fold increase.
Kidney disease is on the rise in Kenya and East Africa.Locally, it is estimated that by 2030, 4.8 million Kenyans will be suffering from kidney disease.
Across the globe, it’s estimated that 50 million people have kidney disease. 2.4 million people in the world die every year due to kidney disease. The disease is now the sixth fastest growing cause of death in the world
