Kenyatta National Hospital/COURTESY
Kenyatta National
Hospital (KNH) has embarked on an ambitious refurbishment programme
targeting its ageing wards as the country’s largest referral
facility prepares to celebrate 125 years of service in November.
The hospital’s
board chairman Abbas Gullet said the facelift is part of efforts to
transform the institution’s physical environment and improve the
experience of patients, staff and medical students.
Gullet said the
tower block where the refurbishment is taking place is approaching 70
years old, with several of the hospital’s 58 wards requiring urgent
attention.
“The tower block
where we are in is close to 70 years old, and the entire hospital has
58 wards, and some of these wards are in dire need of refurbishment,”
Gullet said.
He said the hospital
had decided to seek support from the private sector after recognising
that government resources alone may not be sufficient to address all
its infrastructure needs.
The initiative has
seen corporate organisations and foundations adopt individual wards
and finance their refurbishment and equipping.
Gullet said each
ward requires about Sh30 million, with approximately Sh20 million
going towards refurbishment and Sh10 million for equipment.
“It may not
necessarily be that you get results from the public, from the
government alone, but we went to the private sector,” he said.
“I’m very
excited to say that today the nine wards that we have so far worked
on are 100 per cent financed and funded by the private sector,
Corporate Kenya.”
He said the hospital
deliberately chose an adoption model rather than asking companies to
simply donate money to KNH.
“What we told them
is we were not looking for money to come into the coffers of
Kenyatta, but they could adopt a ward,” Gullet said.
Co-operative Bank
was among the first institutions to come on board, adopting three
wards on the sixth level.
A foundation
subsequently took up one ward on the fourth level, while Prime Bank,
through Mr Cantaria, financed Ward 5 Delta on the fifth level.
Equity Bank is
supporting another ward on the same level in recognition of its
chairman, Professor Macharia, who worked at KNH for 35 years as head
of the Ear, Nose and Throat department.
Three additional
wards- two on level one and one on the ground floor- have been taken
up by Safaricom and the M-Pesa Foundation.
Gullet said the
hospital would continue mobilising additional support to refurbish
more wards and equip them with modern facilities.
The project,
however, has not been without challenges, particularly because KNH
has continued operating as refurbishment works take place.
Hospital’s senior director of
clinical services Joel Lesan said the disruption had affected
patients as well as students undertaking clinical training at the
hospital.
“That has been
quite difficult because it’s affected quite a number of patients
and also quite a number of students who are in training,” Lesan
said.
He said hospital
management had to engage affected groups and explain the long-term
benefits of the works.
“We had to take a
big gamble on this,” he said. “We had meetings with them to
explain the positive effect that it will have on their services and
the quality of service that we provide.”
Lesan said decades
of continuous use had taken a toll on the hospital’s
infrastructure.
“After 70 years of
use, there was a lot of wear and tear,” he said, noting that KNH is
a facility that has remained operational day and night.
Some areas,
particularly washrooms, had deteriorated significantly and required
urgent intervention, he said.
Lesan said the new
wards would provide more spacious and private environments for
patients while creating better conditions for healthcare workers and
students.
“Making the area
conducive to the service itself, well maintained, very clean, very
tidy, would make them happier,” he said.
“Having
well-spaced areas with privacy coming in would be a very ideal place,
very decent place to give services, and very decent place also for
teaching.”
He said improved
infrastructure could also help reduce hospital-acquired infections
and shorten patients’ stays.
“If we’re going
to have a very short turnaround time, then everyone will be happy,”
Lesan said.
Gullet said the
transformation was not limited to buildings, with management also
focusing on staff engagement and improving the hospital’s culture.
KNH has about 6,800
staff and 2,400 beds, making it a major operation requiring strong
management systems.
“We have a very
good board, a board that is committed to its work, and we have been
able to very quickly address these issues,” Gullet said.
He said the board
had placed patients at the centre of its strategy.
“It was very clear
from the word go that we agreed our priority would be clinical
services, our priority would be about patients. We want to be a
patient-centred, patient-focused hospital, and everything revolves
around the patient,” he said.
Gullet said the
hospital also wanted to challenge the perception that public
hospitals must necessarily be old, dull or poorly maintained.
“If we are in this
serious business, it doesn’t matter whether you are public or
private. We want to compete with the best in this country and in this
region,” he said.
He said local
architects, quantity surveyors and designers had been involved in
creating the new spaces, with the hospital seeking a modern aesthetic
while retaining a distinctly Kenyan character.
As KNH marks 125
years, Gullet said the refurbishment programme was intended to ensure
the institution’s physical facilities match its role as a national
and regional referral centre.
“We need to
celebrate, and we need to have a hospital of the stature of Kenyatta
National Hospital,” he said.
“We want it to
become a world-class hospital at the end of the day.”
