KNH hosts investors today for private hospital wing

Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) will today hold an investor briefing marking the official start of the public private partnership (PPP) set to radically change the profile of the national referral facility in the next three years.

KNH board chairman Nicholas Gumbo Tuesday said bids for the PPP projects were open, adding the facility was looking forward to concession periods not exceeding 30 years.

The PPP will help build a private unit of KNH on a five -acre of piece of land. The private facility will have not less than 300 beds. Currently, KNH has 2,000 beds.

The proposed Level 6 facility whose construction starts in 2020 is set to offer premium services and will be a standalone facility with 500 motor vehicle parking slots.

The successful bidder will also be expected to manage, maintain as well as procure and install high-tech medical equipment and oversee delivery of clinical services, the official said.

“This (PPP) project will free KNH from taking debt to undertake projects and expand bed capacity that Kenyans are in dire need of,” said Mr Gumbo.

REVENUE SHARING

“During the period when the investor will be running the hospital, KNH will get revenues from the land lease and through the revenue sharing agreement.”

KNH is set to move the operations of the private wing now housed on the ninth and tenth floors of the referral hospital.

The current private wing has a bed capacity of about 200 and it is envisaged that once the operations of the new facility begin, it will create space for the expansion of the general public wards by up to 400 beds.

“Kenya does not have adequate medical facilities due to financial constraints and diseases continue to be a major burden for the country. Lack of access to basic and specialised healthcare services has been a recurring issue in Kenya and current medical facilities do not match the demand,” said Mr Gumbo.

Kenyas’s PPP programme status report of June 2018 said the construction of the block is targeted at reducing patients’ need for travel out of the country for treatment.

Kenya has a relatively poor public health infrastructure plagued by an acute shortage of doctors, a lack of essential drugs and medical equipment.

This is coupled with inability of poor patients to afford healthcare in expensive private hospitals.