A private investor plans to set up a Sh6.8 billion hospital in Kiambu County with a capacity of 300 beds, joining a chain of entrepreneurs establishing medicare facilities with their eyes on opportunities in the rapidly expanding private health sector in the country.
The investor, Ruth Wanjiku Gakunju, has already received approvals from the Kiambu County government to convert a parcel of land on which the hospital would be built from residential to public-use.
The tertiary hospital is expected to offer services, including cardiology, dental, ear, nose, throat, gynecology and obstetrics. It will also offer hematology orthopedics, pediatrics, urology, family planning, and reproductive health, among others.
The estimated cost of the facility, which will rise five floors above ground, host 379 parking bays, 300 beds, and a total space of 11,403 square meters, is $44,992,900 (Sh6,816,424,350).
“The proposed project is located along Kiambu Road in close proximity to Evergreen Centre Children's Park and Ineza Runda Residential Park amongst other commercial facilities. It has been categorized as a tertiary hospital. The primary objective of the proposed hospital will be to provide improved healthcare services, treatment, and care for various human health disciplines,” states an environmental impact assessment report on the upcoming facility.
When completed, this will be one of the biggest private hospitals in Kiambu County, Kenya’s second largest population-wise. Thindigua, where the hospital will be set up, had a population of 22,401 in 2019, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
“The consultation clinics for different departments will be located on each floor of the main hospital building, together with related treatment and testing facilities for each department. The first floor and last floors will host different Wards, private rooms, operating theatres, and the Intensive Care Units” the investor said in a disclosure.
Kenya’s health sector remains heavily served by the government which provides more than two-thirds of the services, followed by hospitals run by faith-based organizations and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
In recent years, however, there has been a rapid mushrooming of clinics, chemists, and other health facilities run by individuals and private companies, as population needs grow.
The proposed establishment of the Sh6.8 billion hospital comes after another private investor recently also indicated plans to set up a Sh3.5 billion hospital within the upmarket Rosslyn area on Nairobi’s Limuru road.
Columbia Africa Healthcare said the proposed development would be a 152-bed facility, with 25 outpatient departments and additional support services essential for the hospital's operations such as the kitchen, workshop, trash collection, patient rooms, medical gas manifold, and other services, sitting on a 1.416-hectare land.
“Moreover, it houses well-equipped inpatient accommodations, including an intensive care unit (ICU), a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), a high dependency unit (HDU), 5-bed wards, twin patient rooms, and single patient rooms. In addition, the hospital offers essential supporting services such as blood banking and advanced medical data management,” it said in a disclosure.
