State to build new hospitals in Kibera, Lunga Lunga slums
The Government has announced plans to construct hospitals and dispensaries in Kibera and Lunga Lunga slums.
The new facilities will cut time and cost for slum dwellers to access healthcare.
Health cabinet secretary James Macharia also revealed that each county, including Nairobi, will benefit from a Sh34 billion programme which aims at refurbishing and equipping two level 4 and 5 hospitals in each county.
“Historically we had politicians using CDF to build hospitals, but really they were just four walls with a watchman and nothing more. So as a government we have embarked on equipping our hospitals and we have begun with 94 hospitals which mean two per county,” said Mr Macharia.
The Health Secretary also defended the free maternal programme launched by Jubilee government in June last year.
“Some of these initiatives were initially seen to be populist but have saved lives. Before introduction of this programme only 44%of our mothers were delivering in hospitals but right now we have 66 per cent ,”said Mr Macharia.
Director of Medical Services Dr Francis Kamau said the ministry will look into why many mothers still opt to give birth at home.
“We have actually realized that issues like privacy, confidentiality and cleanliness which we have always ignored actually matter and we working on improving that,’’ he said.
According to the statistics from the ministry women die every day out pregnancy related complications.