The expansion program of KNH

Initially started with 40 beds, today it boasts of a 1,800 bed capacity

By Philip Etyang

From humble beginnings with a bed capacity of 40, the Native Civil Hospital now Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) has undergone massive transformations since inception in 1901.

According to government records, the facility was the very first medical center to be established in Nairobi and it was located at the junction of Government Road (Moi Avenue) and Kingsway Road, present day University way.

However, in 1908 the bed capacity at the facility, had increased to 45 beds from the initial 40. In the same year, 712 inpatients and 6,425 outpatients were seen at the hospital.

The modern part the hospital was opened to the public in 1939, comprising of a 300-bed medical wing. Extensions to the wing were made between 1951 and 1953 leading to the completion of another 300-bed surgical wing.

Following the death of King George VI, in February 6th 1952, after a long illness, the Native Civil Hospital was renamed the King George VI Hospital.

The Ismail Rahimtulla Walji Trust building at KNH was completed in 1953 by the Ismail Rahimtulla Walji Trust with the sole intention to accommodate patients from the Asian Community, and therefore, increasing the bed capacity to 600.

In 1957, the Infectious Disease Hospital now Mbagathi County Hospital was built with a 234-bed capacity. When it was founded, it served as the infectious diseases isolation facility for the then King George VI Hospital.

KNH took over the British Military Hospital in Kabete in 1965, and dedicated it for orthopaedic patients. A dental wing at the same facility was later established. After the construction of the present day KNH, the Orthopaedic Unit was moved to KNH, while the Kabete unit was handed back to the British.

Prof Ronald Huckstep, Dr Micah Majale and Prof Kirkaldy Willis, were the very first group of Orthopaedic surgeons to establish and operate the newly built 120 bed Orthaopaedic Ward at KNH.

The tower block building that houses most of the wards at KNH. Adjacent to it is the building that houses the ICU and Burns Unit.

PHOTO | STEVE ARWA

In 1972, the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery was established and in the same year, the first group of University of Nairobi medical undergraduate students sat their final examinations and graduated.

Initially, the Orthopaedic Department had Mr John Church (who advocated use of maggots in treatment of septic wounds) and Dr. Jeshrani as lecturers.

Following the independence of Kenya, in 1963, King George VI Hospital was renamed KNH and was declared a national teaching hospital.The hospital was envisioned as having three main functions:

• Serve as the national referral hospital

• Provide facilities for teaching

• Provide facilities for research Consequently, an expansion program was carried out in three phases which included the main hospital, the clinical science blocks, the medical students’ hostels and the hospital service blocks.

Phase 1

In 1964, a decision to improve the hospital was taken. By then the operational demands of the hospital as a national referral center were continuing to rise. In addition, facilities had to be provided for the clinical training of medical students in progressively increasing numbers.

The decision to carry out the expansion at KNH was taken with the following objectives expected to be achieved: to provide the hospital with additional space in terms of more modern buildings and an efficient maintenance department, the hospital needed to have better standards of equipment as well as an improved supplies organization.

The other objective the expansion team had in mind was to ensure the hospital has clinical facilities for the training of students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) and finally to improve the administrative function of the health institution.

With these objectives in mind, the first phase of the programme was therefore, designed to increase and improve the diagnostic and treatment facilities with little focus on increasing bed capacity.

The back view of the old hospital building that housed the Native Civil Hospital. It was renamed the King George VI Hospital following his death in February 6th, 1952.

PHOTO | STEVE ARWA

Inset: A monument of the tower block building

PHOTO | STEVE ARWA

The neighbouring British Military barracks (Buller Camp) was cleared for purposes of the extension project.

The military base was named after General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, a respected British army general and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in wa awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Buller Camp is today the Kenya Regiment Association offices near the Ngong Road-Hospital Road junction. Construction of the filter clinics, the records stores and the paediatric demonstration rooms commenced on 29th July 1968. At the same time, the construction of the Radiotherapy Department got underway. Construction of a larger boiler house began towards the end of 1968.

Phase one included the completion of several buildings and units within the KNH compound. They included; Clinical Sciences Block and Laboratories, Hostels for medical Students, Boiler House, Filter Clinics, Medical Records, Central Sterile Supplies Department and Casualty.

Other facilities completed in the first phase included the Surgical Out-patient, Medical Out-Patient, Gynaecology Out-patient, Paediatric Out-Patient, ENT Out-patient, Outpatients Dispensary, Anaesthetic Department, Out-patient Laboratory, Burns Unit, Operating Theatres and Theatre Sterile Services Unit, Intensive Care Unit and the Maintenance Department.

The phase one expansion program was completed in 1971 and the new out-patient’s clinics and Casualty, among other departments, were opened to the public.

Part Two to follow in the next edition