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MP Shah to hire 200 medics in expansion plan

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The MP Shah Hospital in Parklands, Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE

MP Shah Hospital is set to employ 200 more medical staff with the construction of a Sh800 million complex in Nairobi by December to meet growing healthcare needs.

The eight-storey building in Parklands will house wards for oncology, physiotherapy and maternity — which is set to expand the hospital’s total bed capacity by 100 to 300 beds.

MP Shah chief executive Anup Das said on Thursday the expansion would create room for hiring of 200 additional nurses, doctors, cancer specialists and technical staff by year end.

“This expansion will meet rising demand for specialised care and enable us separate the maternity wing from other wards since child delivery should be an experience, not sickness,” said Mr Das.

Construction will start next week and is financed by the hospital.

The International Finance Corporation had last year expressed interest in offering MP Shah Sh1 billion ($10 million) for the expansion.

The maternity wing will occupy three floors of the complex, the cancer wing (two top floors), general wards will sit on two floors while the ground floor will be equipped with physiotherapy facilities.

The hospital’s employment prospect is a bright spot in Kenya’s labour market, which is grappling with a wave of job losses as companies trim their workforce to slash costs.

MP Shah workforce is set to grow to 1,000 with the recruitment of the new staff, out of which 150 will be women.

It’s banking on the provision of top specialised services to lock in the billions of shillings that patients from East Africa splash on treatment abroad.

To increase its market reach, the hospital plans eight satellite cancer wings across Kenyan towns in the next two years on the back of rising cancer cases.

Kenya reports about 40,000 new cancer cases every year but has a few hospitals with the capacity to offer treatment.

Cancer is the third leading killer disease in Kenya after pneumonia and malaria.