Economy

MPs reject Sh600m request for KU hospital

kenyatta-hosi

Kenyatta University Teaching, Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH). FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) has rejected a Sh600 million request for completion of Kenyatta University children’s hospital that has stalled.

The Health Committee had asked BAC to support the revival of the hospital.

The committee recommended that BAC allocate Sh600 million for construction of the hospital that started in 2014.

“Upon completion, this will be the first health facility in the country dedicated to addressing children and infant diseases through research and treatment,” Sabina Chege, who chairs the committee, said in the report on the Supplementary Budget I of 2021/22.

Parliament in 2014 allocated KU Sh500 million for the paediatric facility.

Kenyatta University has put up a 300-bed hospital to ease congestion at Kenyatta National Hospital and Mama Lucy Hospital. The hospital’s capacity will be increased to 600.

The hospital would offer students from Kenyatta University (KU) a platform for training in courses such as paediatrics medicine and nutrition.

It introduced medicine courses after constructing the Kenyatta University Research and Referral Hospital.

KU sits on 1,000 acres of land with a considerable portion still unused, a factor that the State seems keen to leverage in creating new income channels. It offers funeral services after setting up a university hospital mortuary facility.

The quest for alternative financial sources comes amid reported capitation shortfalls from the Treasury to State corporations, a situation that has affected service delivery.

To plug the budget holes, it is racing to pull investors to set up hotels, hypermarkets, retail shops, conference halls, and recreational facilities.

This concept dubbed uni-city which will make the campus a one-stop-shop centre is aimed at creating additional revenue streams.

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