Hospital that embarrassed Governor Njuki in 2018 gets oxygen plant
An oxygen plant has been installed at Magutuni Hospital in Tharaka Nithi County.
The hospital gained notoriety when workers were filmed washing blood-stained clothes with hand brushes because it lacked a basic laundry machine.
It is the only level-four hospital in the expansive Maara constituency and serves patients from neighbouring Tharaka and South Imenti.
Its deplorable state came to light in 2018 and caused an uproar after workers were filmed washing blood-stained clothes with hand brushes.
On Wednesday, Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki, with area MP Kareke Mbiuki, commissioned a modern oxygen plant, medical waste management plant, laboratory and theatre at the hospital.
Mr Njuki also handed over a modern ambulance and promised a second one by the end of July.
Security at the hospital has also been enhanced with the erection of a fence and a gate. Roads have also been paved to improve movement.
Governor Njuki said he found the hospital in a terrible state when he took office in 2017 but had since improved it.
“It was very embarrassing to see workers wash blood-stained clothes using hand brushes, but today the hospital has a modern laundry machine,” said Governor Njuki.
With the hospital surrounded by homesteads, he said, it was difficult to deal with medical waste but the newly installed microwave medical waste management machine reduces the waste by 80 percent and sterilises it to make it less harmful.
Before the oxygen plant was installed, the hospital received the commodity from Chuka County Referral Hospital, whose plant was set up in 2020, shortly before the outbreak of Covid-19 in Kenya.
Mr Njuki said health has been his top priority and that he had improved staffing, medical supplies and infrastructure.
He noted that Chuka Referral will be upgraded to a Level Five hospital so that the devolved government could focus on Magutuni and Marimanti level four hospitals, health centres and dispensaries.
The governor, who is seeking reelection under the United Democratic Alliance party, urged residents to consider him for a second term in the August 9 polls so that he could continue the work he is doing to improve lives.
MP Mbiuki and Mwimbi Ward Representative Jonnes Kinegeni lauded Mr Njuki’s work and endorsed him for a second term. BY DAILY NATION
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