Tuesday, December 14, 2021 –Government has renamed the Mathare Mental health facility after Uhuru Kenyatta’s wife Mama Margaret Kenyatta.
Making the announcement on Monday December 13, Nairobi Metropolitan Services NMS Director General Mohammed Badi said this is part of the upgrade plans that has seen the county part with a whopping sh 400 million in an intensive facelift exercise.
For the last five months, the facility had been closed down due to the ongoing renovations that have seen it acquire new state-of-the-art equipment.
“The hospital’s upgrade had stalled for years but will now open its doors to the public in a week’s time awaiting commissioning,” Badi stated.
With a 350-bed capacity, the Mathare North based hospital is now among the biggest hospitals under the Nairobi County Government.
The facility known for dealing with mental cases will, according to NMS, dedicate an entire floor to handling road accident cases especially involving bodaboda riders.
Among the services lined up at the hospital are 24-hour pharmacy, kidney dialysis center, an intensive care unit, burns unit and theaters.
The 5-storey facility is expected to help offload workload at the neighbouiring Mama Lucy Hospital which currently has a bed capacity of 188.
Details indicate that the two facilities are aimed at serving atleast 2.1 million people who live in Eastlands area of Nairobi. This will also help a great deal in de-congesting Kenyatta National Hospital KNH.
On October 3, President Uhuru Kenyatta together with NMS boss Mohammed Badi also commissioned Kibera Level 3 Hospital as part of the continuing health preograms around the city.