Kenya: President Promises New Dental Facilities

The Kenyan administration has allocated funds towards building new modern dental and eye facilities in referral hospitals in the nation. This is an initiative of President Uhuru Kenyatta who has mandated these centers to be completed within a 12 month period.

The president further revealed that his government will set aside Sh300 million for each hospital including prominent facilities like Kenyatta National and others, speaking at the inauguration of a new Sh275 million ultra-modern Dental and Eye Center.

“I have seen what less than Sh300 million can do to uplift the lives of Kenyans. I want to see similar facilities at Kenyatta, Moi, Nyeri and Mombasa [hospitals],” Uhuru said on Wednesday.

Kenyatta also went on to re-iterate his commitment towards achieving Universal Healthcare, which has been a very crucial part of his ‘Big Four’ agenda. He said that the role of the county governments will be of vital in its achievement.

Deputy President, William Ruto also added saying that every sector is going to be mobilized and will play a role in the transformation of Kenya.

“The transformation of Kenya will not happen if we do not mobilise every resource and every sector – NGOs, religious organisations and the public sector – so that we can push the transformation of our country under the agenda four items,” he said.

Kenyan Medical Training College Announces New Campus

A new Kenyan Medical Training College (KMTC) Campus is in the works in the Mukurweni Constituency and is expected to be ready by September next year. Phillip Kaloki made a statement confirming the same after visiting the 10-acre space reserved for the college. He was joined by Mukurweini Constituency MP, Mr. Anthony Kiai and planning executive Daniel Kwai. This move comes in response to the country’s growing need for medical products and infrastructure.

“This will be the third KMTC campus in the county and we hope it will be completed by September next year so we can have our first intake. This will improve health services,” Kaloki said yesterday.

This project will mark KMTC’s 66th campus in Kenya. It has been an initiative of the Mukurweini MP and the county government, who will be stakeholders in the project. Mr. Kiai revealed that the Constituency Development Fund will contribute Sh20 million towards expenses.

“There will be an initial seed capital of Sh20 million from CDF. Other than land, county government has also pledged an additional Sh20 million as we start construction works,” he said. Kwai said. The Mukurweini  Central Ward has also given its full backing to the project as it is expected to generate a significant number of jobs in the area. The College will be expected to enroll around 200 students initially across a variety of programmes like nursing, orthopedics, pediatrics etc.

“We hope to grow the campus until it has a population of up to 1000 students. We will continue to be keen on quality considering 85 per cent of health professionals in Kenya have trained at KMTC,” Kaloki said. Two other campuses are under construction in Kirinyaga and Narok. There are plans to ensure each county has a KMTC campus.