A theatre that has been installed at the newly upgraded Nyakianga Subcounty Hospital in Mathioya, Murang'a County /ALICE WAITHERAResidents of Mathioya can now get surgery, maternity and other specialised medical services following the upgrading of Nyakianga Hospital to a Level IV hospital.
The hospital now has a functional theatre, radiology department, expanded maternity unit and additional inpatient wards, giving residents access to services that previously required referrals to Murang’a Level V Hospital.
The upgrade is expected to cut referral cases, reduce the cost of seeking
treatment and allow patients requiring urgent medical attention to be attended
to closer to their homes.
Medical Officer Dr David Wamburi said the expansion has transformed the facility from a dispensary into one capable of handling more complex cases.
“For a very long time, residents of Mathioya have had to travel to the neighbouring Nyeri County to get certain services, including ultrasound, laboratory services, specialist services and medical doctors’ review,” he said.
The hospital has been equipped with a theatre, casualty unit, labour ward, antenatal and postnatal units, newborn unit, paediatric ward, female and male wards, as well as laboratory and radiology services offering X-rays and ultrasound examinations.
Wamburi said the availability of a functional theatre is particularly important for patients developing complications during childbirth or requiring emergency surgery, as they would no longer have to be transferred.
Governor Irungu Kang’ata, who commissioned the facility on Saturday, said Mathioya had been the only constituency in Murang’a without a Level IV facility, making the upgrade part of efforts to spread higher-level healthcare services across the county.
“This hospital, we started from zero, raised it until it was completed and then equipped it. Today is a day of great joy because Mathioya now has a Level Four hospital,” Kang’ata said.
The governor said the county was progressively expanding and equipping hospitals to increase their capacity to handle patients who would otherwise be referred to Murang’a Level Five Hospital.
He cited Kigumo Hospital, where the county has established a dialysis centre currently equipped with nine machines, as well as Kandara Hospital, which is undergoing expansion.
Kang’ata also cited the Kenneth Matiba Hospital in Kenol, which he said had been developed from scratch, while Maragua and Murang’a hospitals have undergone renovations and expansions.
Muriranjas Subcounty Hospital has also been equipped with a telemedicine centre to allow residents to access specialist services remotely.
The governor said the investments were aimed at taking healthcare services closer to residents instead of requiring patients to travel to the county referral hospital for services that could be provided at lower-level facilities.
At Nyakianga, the expanded maternity and newborn units are expected to strengthen maternal and child healthcare, while the theatre will allow doctors to perform surgical procedures.
The radiology department will also enable clinicians to carry out X-ray and ultrasound examinations at the facility, reducing delays associated with referrals for diagnostic services.
Gitugi MCA Mwangi Wairagu welcomed the upgrade, saying residents had for years been forced to seek some medical services outside the area.
The expansion is expected to ease pressure on Murang’a Level Five Hospital while reducing the time and expenses incurred by families travelling to referral facilities.
It also gives Mathioya residents access to a wider range of medical services within the sub-county, with doctors already deployed to support the expanded facility.
