Nairobi hospitals are stretched by Covid-19, CS Kagwe admits
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has conceded that Nairobi is stretched on how to handle the increasing cases of the coronavirus.
He also announced that the government will soon open a medical facility in Nairobi that will exclusively deal with virus patients.
“There are facilities that are stretched especially those that relate to intensive care. For this reason, in the next two weeks, we shall open another facility at Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral, and Research Hospital with an extra 500 beds with 60 ICU beds,” explained Kagwe.
As a result, the CS said that there might be a situation where Nairobi sends patients to counties in a reversal of prior expectations.
He also encouraged coronavirus patients with less or no symptoms to embrace home-based medical care.
“The records we have show that persons in home-based care are turning negative faster than those in hospitals. Going forward, families should get interested in what home-based care is all about,” Kagwe said.
President Kenyatta on Monday discussed with governors how to provide medical care for coronavirus patients at the county level and later announced that the government had dispatched enough protection to gear to be used by medical workers.