Nyeri seeks investors to build cancer, trauma hospital

Nyeri is seeking private investors to set up a 200-bed hospital for specialised treatment of cancer, eye and kidney conditions, heart diseases and trauma.

The specialty centre to be built at the Mt Kenya Hospital in Nyeri town is expected to ease the burden of patients who have to travel to India or Nairobi for specialised treatment, incurring extra costs of transport and accommodation.

Construction of the hospital has delayed for two years due to lack of funds, forcing the county government to turn to private investors.

“We are doing it as a joint venture between the government and private investors. We cannot do it alone, we need the private investors,” said Dr Charles Githinji, the count health executive.

The county government has invited local and international firms or consortiums to expand the Mt Kenya Hospital, a level 4 health care facility, to cater for 200 more inpatients and build a doctor’s plaza with 30 consultation rooms.

The successful bidder will be expected to design, finance, build, operate and later transfer the hospital to the county.

Dr Githinji said bidders will have to show proof of technical capacity to handle the proposed design-build-finance-operate-transfer model, providing a portfolio of similar projects they have worked on.

Construction is projected to take 12 to 14 months. The successful bidder will also install hospital machines and buy other medical supplies for a minimum period of five years.

Dr Githinji said the county government plans to subsidise costs to make it affordable.

The project is part of Nyeri’s health strategic and investment plan for 2014 to 2018 that was launched last year.

As part of the strategy, the county already set aside Sh231 million in the last financial year to buy equipment for all level 4 and 5 hospitals in the county including Karatina, Mukurweini, Othaya, Mt Kenya and the Nyeri Provincial General Hospital.

The funds were used to set up computerised radiology units with x-ray digitised diagnostic imaging machines.

The county is betting on telemedicine where a radiologist can send medical scans from any health facility to the resident radiologist at the Nyeri Hospital and have a report sent back in real time, to speed up diagnosis and treatment.

The county has also equipped theatres and laboratories in the hospitals and a Sh38 million renal unit has been commissioned.