KNH plans modern 300-bed hospital

Kenyatta National Hospital plans to take on its private sector rivals in the race for high-end clients with a new 300-bed facility.

The referral hospital has advertised for a transaction adviser to conduct a feasibility study and structure a public private partnership (PPP) for construction of the facility.

“The hospital identified the need for construction of a 300-bed hospital on PPP to improve its physical facilities, enhance revenue generation and promote medical tourism in line with Kenya Vision 2030,” said the notice by the CEO Lily Koros.

The hospital’s new facility complements KNH’s corporate centre for high-end outpatient clients that was launched in 2012.

The premium service hospital will be built within the KNH complex. The hospital’s administrators said the facility has a lot of room for expansion.
The successful consultant will provide engineering designs and supervise its implementation.

KNH expects the new unit, which has been on the cards for long, to enhance revenue generation to fill a funding gap created by low allocations from the Treasury.

In the budget, Finance secretary Henry Rotich allocated the hospital Sh8.4 billion in the fiscal year 2014/15.

The hospital has in the past struggled to raise enough funds to cater for purchase of equipment and expand its referral services.

Kenyatta now joins the list of hospitals in Nairobi that are expanding operations with eyes on middle-income earners keen to avoid the relatively poor service in public hospitals.

The expansions also include setting up of specialist centres.

Last year, Nairobi Hospital unveiled a Sh10 billion, seven-year expansion plan to lift its referral capacity in a four-phase plan that will also see it set up 16 specialised treatment units covering mostly kidney and lung ailments.

Satellite branches

The first phase of the plan is already under way. At the end of phase four, the hospital will have 750 additional beds and several satellite branches from the current capacity of 356 beds.

Besides opening clinics in the city, Aga Khan University Hospital has in the past indicated plans to construct a 600-bed hospital as part of its Heart and Cancer Treatment Centre.

Another hospital targeting to tap into the growing middle class is Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital which last year grew its bed capacity by 20.

A new building at its Muthaiga branch saw it expand bed capacity from 83 to 103 and offer new services like heart surgery and specialised burns treatment.

Last year, Metropolitan Hospital unveiled plans to increase its bed capacity from 70 to 100 with a Sh200 million investment in Eastleigh.