The Laikipia County government has injected Sh500 million into leasing state-of-the-art medical equipment, as it seeks to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Of this amount, officials have set aside Sh96 million to lease equipment for a renal unit. Some 15 dialysis machines, 15 dialysis beds and a water treatment plant will be acquired.
Health Chief Officer Donald Mogoi said yesterday that Nyahururu County Referral Hospital will acquire its first renal unit, which is expected to be fully operational by June.
“Ten dialysis beds will be placed at Nyahururu County Hospital while the remaining five will be added at the dialysis unit at Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital,” Mr Mogoi said.
“This will increase the number of dialysis beds at Nanyuki from seven to 12. This is informed by the number of patients with renal failure who are treated in the two main healthcare facilities.”
He added: “This investment is a great milestone for our health department as well as for the people of Laikipia in terms of expansion of our healthcare facilities and bringing services closer to them.”
County Secretary Karanja Njora said three suppliers had been identified.
“We are rolling out a programme where we intend to equip all our health facilities with state-of-the-art medical equipment. The equipment will be delivered at the laboratories, theatres and the renal units,” Mr Njora said.
Leasing is an alternative way of providing expensive machines without buying them. The county administration has an ongoing leasing programme with RentCo Africa for road construction equipment.
Health executive Rose Maitai said the programme is meant to ensure that healthcare services are affordable in government facilities.
“We committed ourselves [to] attaining UHC in Laikipia. We want to assure our clients that we are committed to continue improving the treatment experience in all our facilities. We want to make treatment affordable by ensuring that citizens get these crucial services in our facilities,” Ms Maitai said.
Last year, all the 87 public health facilities in the county were rebranded Laikipia Health Service (LHS).
Under LHS, the healthcare centres have been classified into 15 clusters.
The clusters include Nanyuki, Nyahururu, Kalalu, Doldol, Chumvi, Kimanjo, Lamuria, Rumuruti, Wiyumiririe, Ol Moran, Oljabet, Salama, Sipili, Ng’arua and Ndindika.
The county government argues that clustering the facilities would enable identification of various epidemiological zones to tackle different ailments affecting locals.
“Clustering is meant to enable better stocking of supplies and essentials in accordance with the identified needs,” Ms Maitai said. BY DAILY NATION