History Check

The second phase of the expansion project at KNH

By Philip Etyang

»» Continuation from Newsline edition 23

In 1964, the Native Civil Hospital was renamed the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) after the founding president of the Republic of Kenya. KNH then started operating both as a national hospital and as a provincial and regional hospital for Nairobi area.

Medical students started receiving training in 1965 at KNH. Later, in December of the same year, the maternity department was established and commencement of training for state-approved midwives. Between 1965 and 1990, the history of the country’s largest referral hospital can be summed up by the following major milestones:

1964: Renaming of the Old Civil Hospital to Kenyatta National Hospital.

1965: KNH took over the services of the British Military Hospital in Kabete, Nairobi as its Orthopedic Surgery Department.

1971: Opening of a new general outpatient Wing.

1972: Opening of a Spine Injury Unit.

1981: Opening of the Tower Block with 1,200 bed capacity. Which effectively brought the combined total of the old and new wings to add up to 2,000 beds.)

1990: Start of the rehabilitation works by the World Bank.

Phase Two

The second phase of the expansion program at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) involved the completion of the following service departments at the main facility: Pharmacy and Sterile Preparation Unit, the Central Catering Unit, the Hospital Mortuary, Eye Department, National Medical Library, Hearing Aid Department, Cardiopulmonary Department, Museum and Medical Photography Department, Electroencephalography Department and Laundry.

Another major development in 1972 was the establishment and opening of the Spinal Injury Unit which later became the National Spinal Injuries Unit in 1979. According to a March 2016, research article by Dr. J.W. Kinyanjui and published in the East African Orthopaedic Journal titled Pattern and outcome of spinal injury at KNH, spinal injury constitutes a significant disease burden at KNH.

The research was carried out in 49 patients over a span of six months between August 2013 and January 2014 and concluded that spine injuries mostly affect males who are in the economically productive age group, largely as a consequence of road traffic accidents. Findings also showed that spinal injury mainly affects individuals whose main occupation involves manual labour.

Another major finding of the research study was that there was need to make improvements in the emergency response infrastructure as well as the development of clear and concise referral criteria for the lower-level hospitals to ensure timely management of spinal injuries.

Phase Three

The main projects that were completed in this phase were; the opening of the 1,209-bed capacity Tower Block, and therefore, creating more space in the Old Hospital, completion of the departments of Physical Medicine, Occupational Therapy, four operating theatres, the Admission Unit, and the X-Ray Department (Now Radiology). Today, the X-Ray Department, operates under the Diagnostics Services and Health Information Division. The previous wards in the Old Hospital building were refurbished and converted into office space and a cancer ward. The phase came to a close in 1981.

In 1987, KNH became a State Corporation through Legal Notice No. 109 of 6th April 1987 with the mandate of receiving patients on referral from other hospitals for specialized health care, provide facilities for medical education for the University of Nairobi (College of Health Sciences) and the Kenya Medical Training Center.

KNH was also mandated to provide facilities for education and training in nursing and other health and allied institutions, and finally to operate as a national referral hospital.

Fast forward to 2022, KNH has a capacity of 1,800 beds, attends to at least 80,000 inpatients and 600,000 outpatients annually on average. The hospital is also equipped with 50 wards, 24 operating theatres and 24 consultant clinics.

MAIN PHOTO | STEVEN ARWA The KNH Diagnostic &Reporting Center building that houses the CT Scan Center.

The Zarina Merali Daycare Center building.

PHOTO | STEVEN ARWA