State to spend Sh4bn to elevate two health facilities

Kenyans will have to shoulder Sh4 billion financial burden as the country plans to transition two health facilities into national referral hospitals.

The two hospitals are Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Hospital and Mwai Kibaki Teaching and Referral Hospital.

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Already, the process is at an advanced stage and the ministry is waiting for allocation in the 2025-26 budget to conclude the transition process.

The move is seen as government efforts to decentralise quality healthcare services and reduce pressure on Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, the two current national facilities.

The two hospitals, which already serve as regional referral centers, are expected to see an increase in patient numbers and funding from the exchequer once the transition is complete.

National Assembly’s Health Committee chairman James Nyikal vouched for the funding of the process when he appeared before the Budget and Appropriation Committee.

The Budget committee is chaired by Alego Usonga MP Sam Atandi.

“The committee observed that the Ministry of Health is in the final stages of transitioning Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Hospital and Mwai Kibaki Teaching and Referral Hospital to national referral hospitals,” Nyikal told the budget team.

“To ensure seamless transition, in the financial year 2025-26, Sh2.831 billion and Sh1.352 billion have been allocated to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Referral Hospital and Mwai Kibaki Teaching and Referral Hospital, respectively.”

The budget committee is currently receiving submissions from the departmental committee chairs on the budget estimates for 2025-26 financial year.

Nyikal was however, put to task to justify how they arrived at the Sh4 billion transition cost for the two hospitals.

The Seme lawmaker explained they relied on estimates from the respective facilities during the committee’s visits.

“We actually visited the two facilities and we asked them their requirements and that is how we got the Sh2.8 billion and Sh1.3 billion,” Nyikal said.

The Cabinet approved the decision to elevate Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and referral Hospital to a state corporation, in a major step in strengthening healthcare services in the region.

The elevation of the facility, named after Kenya's first Vice President and located in the heart of Kisumu city, will put the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital at par with Nairobi's Kenyatta National Hospital.

JOOTRH was commissioned in 1969 and opened to the public in October of that year.

In 2024, the JOOTRH was designated as a Level 6 facility following a joint assessment by the Kenya Health Professional Oversight Authority, the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Council, and the Nursing Council of Kenya.

The hospital boasts of specialised doctors, functional theaters, oncology services, Intensive Care Unit, teaching hospital status, laboratory services and pharmacy.

Mwai Kibaki Teaching and Referral Hospital was gazetted in September last year as a fully-fledged independent parastatal.

The facility will now serve patients from central, eastern and northern parts of Kenya.

INSTANT ANALYSIS

With the elevation of the two health facilities to national referral hospital is meant to ease pressure from Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, the two current national facilities.

The move will also reduce pressure from the respective counties as the national government will now take over the running of the facilities.